The Long Run
by ThreeFoldLaw
Summary: Dangerous circumstances caused Daryl and Alex to stumble into each other the first time, but shared survival, hope and a lot of romance kept them together in the long run. Daryl x OC
1. Chapter 1

Warning: This story is M rated due to the fact that it's going to be filled with lots of Daryl related smutty goodness.

AN: I am looking for a beta reader if anyone's interested, which means if you want to read the aforementioned smutty goodness before anyone else, you've come to the right place!

Disclaimer: If you've seen any content from this fic on the show "The Walking Dead", there's a 99.9% chance I don't own it.

The rain came down hard through the trees, but not so hard as to stop her. She was determined and focused, she had to get back soon. Alex forced herself to run through the downpour, sucking air into her burning lungs. Although her legs were tired she was careful to pick up her feet as she moved, the trail she was following was well worn, revealing gnarled tree roots. However, she did not anticipate how slippery the ground would be from the rain, the dirt shifted and her feet slipped out from underneath her, throwing her forward. Her head slammed against the ground and her vision went black for a moment.

When her senses returned, her sight was blurred and her head pounded. She could hear fallen leaves crunching and rustling in the distance. She squinted, trying to refocus, and in the distance could make out a dark figure. Her breath hitched in her throat as she realized what is was. The moans of the undead reached her ears, as more appeared between the trees. Alex frantically pushed herself up off the ground and began sprinting back the way she came. The pack of undead noticed her movements and began to increase their speed.

Alex was worried, she knew what was past the grove of trees, on open grassy plain that her pursuers could easily use to gain ground on her. While the undead moved fairly slowly through the forest, that was not the same for flat, open terrain. The trees began to thin out and the plains came into view. She looked behind her, at the mob that was shambling towards her, then back to the path. Without warning, she slammed into a wall of human muscle.

She stumbled and fell on her ass, gazing up at the man in horror. He had a crossbow aimed at her head and had steely stare that was boring into her. He glanced at the undead that were chasing Alex and quickly assessed her again. She guessed he must of thought she wasn't much of a threat because he roughly hauled her up by the collar instead of putting an arrow through her head.

"Pine tree on the left, climb it," he ordered.

She saw the tree he was talking about and ran over to it, the man trailing right behind her. Thankfully the branches of the tree were low and she scaled it quickly. She stopped about 10 feet up to catch her breath, but felt a slap on her calf.

"Higher," he grunted, pulling up beside her.

She followed his lead and managed to get a few more branches higher before the pack began to pass below them. A few of the undead stopped at the base of the tree, but they were at the point of decomposition that they were unable to climb the branches and were reduced to the simple actions of swinging what was left of their arms at the trunk.

"Stop," he hissed, and they both came to rest.

They sat in silence as the mob shambled on. Alex clutched at the branch she was sitting on with a white knuckle grip. As thankful as she was that the guy had helped her out, she was very wary. She had already come across a few men who had less than honourable intentions, and although her knife had been enough to scare off most of them, it wasn't much of a match for a crossbow.

It took some time, but eventually the undead left the vicinity in search of more easily accessible prey. At some point it had stopped raining, which was good, but it was late evening and the light was starting to fade rapidly.

The guy was the first to break the silence, "Name."

It was a demand, not a question, but she answered him all the same, "Alex".

"Daryl".

"Thanks," she said plainly, still unsure of his intentions.

"Yeah," he acknowledged.

They went quiet for a few more minutes before he spoke up again, "Got any food?"

"Some," she answered. She wouldn't mind sharing food with Daryl, seeing as he saved her from an untimely death at the hands of the undead.

"Save it for tomorrow" he commanded.

"Tomorrow?" she asked, slightly confused.

"We sleep up here tonight. It's safer than on the ground in these parts," he explained.

She noticed that he said 'we', but wasn't sure how she felt about it, "And how do you propose _we_ sleep in a tree?" Alex queried skeptically.

"Do you have any rope in that backpack of yours?" he said, answering her question with another question.

"Well, yeah," she admitted, "but not much, only about four feet."

"That'll do. Climb over to my branch."

She cautiously manouvered herself around the tree trunk and found herself face to face with Daryl. He had a rugged handsomeness to him, he was wearing a shirt with the sleeves cut off, showing off his muscled arms. She joined him on his branch, and handed him the rope.

"You're facing the wrong way," he told her.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him, but obliged and straddles the tree facing the other direction, her hand wandered toward the knife on her belt.

Daryl's hand shot out, grabbing her wrist tightly, "Don't bother, if I wanted to hurt you, I woulda done it already."

"Okay," she responded, her words implying she trusted him, but her tone told a different story.

He ignored her and wrapped his other arm around her waist, pulling her back flush to his chest. He tied their hands together, then secured them to the branch. Alex back was tense and rigid, every muscle ready to act just in case he made another move, but when he didn't, she finally relaxed.

"If one of us starts to fall we should wake each other up, but if that fails, at least we won't fall outta the tree," Daryl said.

By then the sun was setting beneath the horizon, colouring the sky with a brilliant red hue. The sunset didn't last long however, and the sun vanished from sight, allowing darkness to take over. In that time Daryl starting snoring, and Alex drifted into sleep beneath the night sky.

Reviews, good or bad, are always welcome!

Till next time,

ThreeFoldLaw :)


	2. Chapter 2

The first thought that entered Daryl's mind when he awoke was that his nose was itchy. Long strands of brown hair lightly tickled his skin and he was certain that they didn't belong to him. He cracked open an eyelid and saw the girl he had rescued yesterday, which jogged his memory and he remembered that they had fallen asleep in the tree together. Her body had finally relaxed and was nestled in his arms with her head was resting against his cheek, hence the hair in his face. He yawned and breathed in her scent, which was a sweet reprieve from the unwashed smell he had unfortunately grown accustomed to since he had been travelling with Merle for so long.

He tried to stretch, but was stopped by the rope, which still held one of his hands in place. His other hand was still wrapped around the girl, but it had risen higher on her body throughout the night, and was now resting just below her breast. Not thinking, he ran his thumb along its underside, following the curve of her body. She sighed in her sleep and shifted closer to him, rubbing up against his stiff cock that had come with the morning light.

He had to admit that she was pretty good looking for being an apocalypse survivor and probably cleaned up nicely. However, he was also sure that she wasn't the type to jump into bed with a random stranger. She had been very suspicious of him at first, and he guessed that as a lone female she had most likely had a few run-ins with some dishonourable men. As much as he would have enjoyed being one of those men, Daryl knew he wasn't that kind of person and he released her, pushing her away from him quickly with his recently free hand.

Alex was roughly jostled into wakefulness and blearily opened her eyes to the harsh morning light. She squinted in the brightness and turned to look at Daryl who was already working on untying the rope. He flicked his eyes up to meet hers and she was slightly surprised by the look he gave her.

"What?" she asked sleepily, still not fully awake.

He broke eye contact with her and kept working on the knot, "It's already mid-morning, we need to get going."

He got them untied and started to work his way down the tree, not waiting for Alex to catch up. She slowly followed and by the time she got to the bottom she was finally fully awake.

"You said you had food?" he asked when she eventually joined him.

"Some canned stuff in my backpack, and hopefully some rabbits or squirrels if I caught anything with my snares," she said.

Daryl snorted in disbelief, "You know how to make a snare?"

Alex rolled her eyes, "Do you think I would have lasted this long if I didn't know how to take care of myself?"

"Suppose not," he admitted.

He realized that she was right, most of the survivors that had lasted this long had to know something to still be alive. She was actually a nice break from most of the women he had encountered so far.

"Come on," she said, heading back to the trail that she had initially been travelling on the other day before she had literally run into Daryl.

He trailed behind her closely as they headed out into the open plain and she could feel his eyes watching her. It took some time, but they made it to the next grove of trees and to the snares she had set the previous day. Out of four snares, two held rabbits and the others were empty.

"One for you and one for me I guess," she mused out loud.

She made quick work of killing the rabbits while Daryl watched. She had gotten over her aversion for ending lives early on in the apocalypse, hunger winning over the social norms she was previously accustomed to. However, she was still careful not to get blood on her clothing, as the smell of death attracted he undead.

"Where did you learn to do that?" he asked, "Most gals I knew wouldn't have touched those with a 10 foot pole."

"My grandad taught me, we used to go up north to the family cabin. The rules there were the same as the rules now, if you wanted to eat, you had to catch it and kill it yourself," she told him, surprising herself at how much she was sharing with a guy she had just met. Granted, he had saved her life without what seemed to be no ulterior motive. He could have easily let her keep running and save his own ass while she was torn apart by the undead.

When she was done she rummaged through her bag, grabbing what little she had left, including a pot and her last can of beans.

"You know how to skin a rabbit?" Alex questioned.

He nodded and held out his hands, not saying a word, but still keeping his eyes on her. She almost shivered, he had been watching her strangely since they had woken up. Nonetheless, she tossed him the rabbits.

"What else do you got in that bag of yours?" he inquired.

"Uhh, water and a few protein bars, but that's about it. I was thinking of going into Atlanta and doing a supply run," she replied.

Daryl shook his head, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. The city's been overrun by walkers."

She sighed heavily, "great."

They were silent for a few minutes before he spoke up again, "You could join us at our camp, we could always use another hunter."

"We? You have a camp with other people?"

"Yeah, there's about twenty of us." he told her, glancing up at her from his work to watch her reaction.

She said nothing for a time, just kept working on opening the can of beans. Finally she looked at him, "That would be a nice change, but how do I know you're not leading me into a trap or something?"

Daryl actually laughed, "To be honest, I thought it would be a nice change too, most of the broads at my camp are too dumb to coordinate a trap."

Alex smirked at him, although she was cautious about completely trusting him, he seemed too cynical to by lying. She handed him the pot filled with half of the can of cold beans, "I'll think about it."

She also pulled out a plastic bag, "Put the good meat in here, it can be cooked later."

He did as she said, then dug into the beans. They both finished in a few minutes and he handed the empty pot back to her.

"So what now? You saved me, I fed you, we go our separate ways?" she inquired.

Daryl shrugged, "Or you could bring that rabbit to my camp, trade it for some other supplies."

Alex bit her lip, this guy kept nonchalantly giving her solutions to her problems, "You know what, fine. I'll go with you to your camp, but if anyone tries to pull any funny shit, I won't stay."

"Trust me, the shit they pull is never funny," Daryl grumbled slightly, pushing himself off the ground.

He offered a hand out to her, which she took. It was rough and calloused, and enveloped her own, but it was also gentle as he pulled her up.

"If we leave now, we can probably make it before night," he observed, releasing her hand somewhat reluctantly.

"Well, lead on," she said, and they disappeared into the wood together.

* * *

AN: Well this one was fun to write, I enjoyed starting the slow burn of their romance. Like Daryl noted, I don't think Alex is the type to jump into bed with every stranger she meets, so I am going to build up to super smuttiness.

Thanks to Mooka333 for the review! It motivated me to write more than I had originally intended, hence 2 chapters in 2 days!

ThreeFoldLaw :)


	3. Chapter 3

AN: I realized, with the help of my lovely reviewers, that I neglected to mention at what point of the show I was starting at. If you hadn't already guessed, it is pre-season 1. Hope that context helps, and enjoy the chapter!

* * *

It was Alex's turn to follow closely to Daryl, who was pushing ahead on the game trail at a breakneck pace. The further they travelled, the more the landscape changed. It was far rockier than what she was used to, but she was adjusting as well as she could.

The sun was low in the sky when they came across a strings of cans tied between many of the trees.

"What the hell?" she muttered, trying to figure out why someone would do that.

"Supposed to be an early warning", Daryl explained gruffly as he carefully climbed over the cans.

He had accidentally set them off once coming back from a hunt and had been treated to an angry Shane threatening to blow his head off with his rifle if he did it again.

"Don't they know that sound would only draw more?", she asked skeptically.

"Like I said, they're not the brightest people."

Alex sighed, wondering what she had gotten herself into and whether or not she had time to back out. However, she realized it was too late to be second guessing her choice as the camp came into view.

From her vantage point she could see some tents, cars and a large Winnebago. There was a man standing atop the camper and she heard him yell something out.

Daryl noticed as well, "Most of these folks are nice, but some of them are a little thick. And Shane can be a hot head."

As he suspected, Shane came storming over, gun in hand, " What's going on here Dixon?"

The rest of the group trailed behind Shane, and Alex could feel their curiosity as they openly stared at her. She could also sense the tension between Shane and Daryl, both seemed ready to jump the other at any moment.

She decided it might be better to intervene and catch him off guard before it escalated any further.

"Hi, I'm Alex," she said sticking her hand out forcefully to Shane.

He looked at her, surprise written all over his face and it seemed that she had distracted him from the brewing argument. He was forced to holster his gun to shake her hand and she could feel the collective sigh of relief from the rest of the group.

He took her hand tightly, almost too tightly for Alex's liking, "Shane." He didn't release her hand right away, forcing her to pull away.

"I hear that you guys might be willing to trade for some supplies," she said carefully, still not entirely sure about the group dynamic.

"What kind of trade?" called a voice from the back of the group.

An older man stepped forward, and looked at Alex with a interested, but somewhat critical gaze.

"I hear you guys might have a bit of supply and demand 's just say I'm good at catching small game".

There were some murmurs from the group, and it seemed mostly positive from what she could make out.

"I've got some rabbit on me right now, so you can try the product if you want," she suggested.

Alex saw some people smile, but the old man piped up again, "And what exactly do you want to trade for?"

She took a deep breath, unsure of how her proposition was going to go over, "A place in your camp and access to shared resources."

A discussion began amongst the group almost immediately after the words were out of her mouth. A few voiced protests, most prominently from Shane, who didn't really seem too fond of her already. However, the majority appeared to like the trade and eventually he gave in.

"Okay, you can have a place in the camp, but it's going to be a trial period. If you hold up your end, you can have limited access to our resources," Shane said with finality, making is very clear that his offer was non negotiable.

"I can do that," she agreed, tossing the bag of rabbit at him, "consider that my first contribution."

"Let me be clear though," Shane interrupted, "if you cause any trouble, you're out. And since Daryl brought you here, I'm also holding him responsible if you fuck up. You can be his problem".

Alex grit her teeth, this guy was really starting to rub her the wrong way, "I'm fine with that."

"Good, then that's settled," he turned to the rest of the group, " and you can get back to work."

She sensed some discontent within them as they began to disperse. While Shane seemed to be the leader, it may not have been by their choice.

Daryl had watched the whole exchange closely. Alex had effortlessly manipulated Shane, all the while winning everyone else over with her offer of food. She would probably fit in well.

She turned to face him, "So I guess I'm stuck with you now."

"Yeah," he responded, secretly pleased with the turn of events.

He had feared that everyone would like her too much and draw her away, but Shane had prevented that. Now all he had to worry about was what Merle was going to say.

"Come on, I'll show you where you'll be staying."

When they had first joined the group, Merle had insisted on staying at the edge of camp, so they would have a quick getaway just in case things went south. It also meant they were highly isolated from the rest of the group. They could have moved closer, but Daryl enjoyed the peace and quiet, so they stayed put.

"Well here I was thinking you were hunting for deer when you were really hunting women," Merle called out, "And what a fine specimen you caught."

"Uh, Alex, this is my brother Merle," he said.

"_Big_ brother," Merle corrected, and she easily caught the sexual innuendo, "Alex short for anything sweet cheeks?"

"Nope, just Alex," she said shortly.

"So, 'just Alex', what brings you to these parts? Certainly couldn't be Daryl's wit and charm," he teased.

"Supplies."

Merle laughed, "Mmm, short and sweet, I like that in my women, especially when I fuck'em."

Daryl cringed, his brother was excellent at alienating everyone he met.

"I am not your woman!" Alex snapped, her voice rising in pitch slightly as Merle riled her up.

"This one's got spunk," he said pointing to her while he waggled his eyebrows at Daryl, "I like that."

"Yeah, well don't like her too much," he muttered back.

Merle guffawed, "Pleasure meeting you hon, but I got business to attend to."

He got up and wandered away into the woods, but not before giving Alex, one more leer.

"Uh, where's he going?" Alex asked.

"To get high probably," Daryl admitted, "Don't give him much mind though, he' usually pretty harmless."

Alex shrugged, she had dealt with people like Merle before, and although she wasn't very fond of them, she didn't think he would be much of a problem.

Daryl nudged her shoulder and she realized she had been zoning out, "What?"

"Merle usually stays in the tent and I sleep over here," he said, pointing to a flatbed truck.

Alex raised an eyebrow, "You sleep in a truck?".

"It ain't as bad as it looks," he opened the back of the flatbed to reveal a mattress.

"Is that a real bed?" she gasped.

Without thinking she climbed into the truck and flopped face down onto the bed, "It's been so long since I slept in a bed."

She blushed as soon as the words left her mouth, realizing she had practically invited herself into Daryl's bed.

Daryl smirked, "You're welcome to share it."

Her face reddened further, "Thanks."

"You can through your bag in the cab, that usually where we keep all the extra stuff," he told her.

She hopped down out of the back and avoided making eye contact while she followed him around to the front. He opened the cab door from her and she shrugged the bag from her shoulders, tossing it onto the passenger seat.

Alex moaned in relief, "Finally, it's been so long since my shoulders got a break."

Daryl squirmed inwardly when he heard her moan, his mind wandered and he imagined what it would be like for her to make those sounds beneath him.

Alex massaged her shoulders, "So what do you do here other than hunt?"

He snapped back to reality, "Not much really, it takes up most of the time. The others are pretty similar, they do some cleaning and fixing, the women usually cook in the evening. Glenn does supply runs, he doesn't come back with much, but I figure he does it to get away from everyone else for a while."

"Which one was Glenn?" she asked.

"The asian one."

"And who was the old guy in the hat?"

Daryl groaned, "Why don't you go ask them yourself, I'm sure they're all itching to meet you."

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" she hinted.

"No, that's all on you.," Daryl said gruffly, "I've got my own snares to check before it gets dark

Alex shrugged, "Okay then."

She got up and started heading back into the rest of camp, leaving Daryl to his task. She wandered around, observing mostly empty tents until she passed by the camper.

A blond head popped out of one windows, "Hey! New girl!"

"Hey yourself!" Alex called back.

The blond smiled widely and disappeared inside for a moment before barreling down the steps. She was followed by another blond and the old man who had interrogated her.

"Hi, I'm Amy!" she said excitedly.

The other blond stepped up behind her, "And I'm her sister Andrea. Sorry, but we didn't catch your name earlier."

"It's Alex," she obliged.

"Good lord, not another 'a' name," cursed the old man jokingly, "My name's Dale."

Alex was about to respond when she was caught in a tackling hug from Amy, "Finally there's another girl my age."

"Uh, nice to meet you too," she laughed when Amy released her, drawing some chuckles from the other two as well.

"I could show you around if you wanted," she suggested brightly.

"That would be great!"

Andrea piped up, "Just stay away from Ed, and be back before dark."

Amy rolled her eyes, "Yes mom."

She tugged on Alex's sleeve, "Let's go."

Alex followed the blond girl away from the camper, as they walked Amy gave her a run down of the different areas.

"The Morales' have their tent here, they're pretty nice, but can be quiet and keep to themselves. Across from them are Lori and Carl, and sometimes Shane. Carl's a cute kid, and I think Lori's okay, but Shane's kinda weird. Beside them, there's Jim, T-Dog and Jacqui, they've got a mini camp thingy going on. On the farthest side, that's where the Peletiers' stay. We don't talk to Ed, he's real mean, and Carol shows up with bruises all the time, but so far Sophia's been alright. And that's everyone."

"Hey!" called a voice angrily from behind them.

The girls turned around and Amy giggled slightly, "Oops, I almost forgot you Glenn."

"Almost! You did forget me!" Glenn said, sounding a little hurt.

"Maybe it's because you're never here," Amy teased.

Glenn puffed out his chest a bit, "Well someone has to be brave enough to go into Atlanta and get supplies."

Alex perked up at that, and was about to ask him about it when she was interrupted by a bell.

"Dinner!" a woman's voice called out.

"Yes!" cheered Glenn, "Let's eat."

They wandered back over to the central area where everyone had gathered. Alex noted the setup of the fires, there was one large one surrounded by several smaller ones.

She leaned in closer to Amy and whispered, "Why so many fires?"

"Not everyone gets along as well as they could," she explained.

"Alright, we got rabbit stew tonight thanks to Alex, so dig in!" Lori said, addressing the group.

A chorus of thank you's went up as people began scooping out stew. Alex managed to snag a bowl and sat down with Amy and Glenn. It was quiet as people ate, the only sound was the scraping of utensils on bowls. Alex glanced around, most people were grouped as Amy had described. The Peletiers were off on their own, the furthest away from everyone else. The Morales family had their own fire, while everyone else was grouped around the main fire. She also noticed that neither Merle nor Daryl had come back yet.

When she was done eating, she got up and started to walk back to the flatbed truck.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Amy asked.

"It's starting to get dark out, I figured I'd get to bed early and catch up on my sleep," she lied.

In truth, she really wanted to see if Daryl was back. She had a feeling if he was, he probably wouldn't have come to the common area. From his comment so far, she didn't think he was overly fond of them.

"Oh, okay then. I guess we'll see you tomorrow then," Amy said with a wave, then went back to eating.

Alex made her way back to the truck and was disappointed when she saw that Daryl wasn't back yet. She sighed and climbed into the bed, crawling under the covers. There was only one pillow, which she figured he used, so she took a corner of the cover and bunched it up under her head. She had briefly considered taking off her jacket, but it would have exposed her arms and neck, something she really wasn't fond of. She was paranoid, but for a good reason, she didn't want to give the undead easier targets to bite. She snuggled deeper under the covers, and inhaled. The bed had a faint smell of blood, but it was covered by a manly musk. Her thoughts strayed to Daryl and she blushed, all the guy had done was tie her to a tree, and now she could get him out of her mind.

She gave her head a shake and screwed her eyes shut, trying to banish him from her thoughts so she could get a good night's sleep.

It was late into the night when she was awoken by something tugging at the covers. She tried to reach for her knife to defend herself in case it was one of the undead, but she arms were all twisted up in the blanket.

"Quit your squirming," growled a familiar voice.

Alex froze as she realized it was Daryl. He was trying to get onto the mattress, but she had managed to maneuver herself horizontally across the bed in her sleep, taking up as much room as possible. She had also cocooned herself in the covers and stolen his pillow.

She felt him tugg again as he freed the blankets from her, then he slid in beside her. He hooked a hand around her thigh and pushed her backwards to make some space for himself. He made sure not to push her too far away though, there was barely an inch of space between them.

"You were gone a long time."

"Had to find Merle," he murmured.

"Why?" she asked sleepily.

"Got high as a kite and got himself lost again."

"Hmm. Do you want your pillow back?" she mumbled.

"Nope."

"Okay," she said, and she drifted back to sleep again, feeling safer than she had the first time.

* * *

AN: So this chapter was twice as long as my other ones, sorry (not sorry!). As the story develops further, I imagine the chapters will get longer. Also, this one has a lot more dialogue, and I'm going to try to make sure the character stay in character (which I have to admit, is harder for some character than others).

Thanks to kazzibee, Mooka333, UndeadMama, Wishfulhamadryad and rosered88 for your fab reviews, and everyone else for your follows and favourites!

Feedback, especially constructive criticism, is always appreciated!

Till next time,

ThreeFoldLaw :)


	4. Chapter 4

AN: This chapter is one of the reasons this fic is rated M (ie smutty goodness). Consider yourself warned!

* * *

When Alex woke up she realized that sometime during the night, Daryl had tried to reclaim his pillow. His face was only inches from hers, so close that there breath was intermingling. Their legs were intertwined under the blankets, and she had his shirt tightly in her hand, pulling him closer to her.

For a while she stayed where she was, it had been a long time since she had been close enough to another person to touch them, and she missed the human contact. He was breathing softly and every so often let out quiet snore. He was much more relaxed in his sleep, his body tension was near non-existent and his face was more peaceful

Alex slowly released his shirt and started to push away, trying not to wake him up yet. Although the sun was coming up over the horizon, she sensed that he was probably going to be tired from staying out so late. As she tried to disentangle herself, she felt him shift in his sleep, the arm that had been lying by his side wrapped around her, stopping at the small of her back and the pulling her even closer to him so their chests touched. He buried his head against her neck and she felt his lips brush her skin lightly.

I was a shock for Alex and she squirmed slightly, but she didn't expect for him to tighten his grip, squeezing her right up against his body, so she could feel every inch of him.

Daryl squinted at her in the bright morning light, "Thought I told you told you to quit squirming."

His lips turned up slightly, he was relishing the way she was moving against him. He had felt it when she has first woken and had just lain quietly. He had thought she would have shit a brick, but she hadn't, even when he had pulled her right up against him. Apparently she was very complacent in the morning, which was something that excited him greatly. He could feel himself growing hard against her, and wondered how far she would let him push her.

He nuzzled her neck, tickling her skin with his hot breath as he skimmed his lips over the exposed skin. He grinned when she gave a strangled gasp and twisted her hands in his shirt once more. Her reaction spurred him on and he became bolder, getting under the collar of her shirt and kissing along her collarbone.

Alex actually sighed aloud and squirmed against him in pleasure. Daryl started to roam with his hands along her body, moving from the her back to grip her hips tightly, as he made his way back up her neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses. She loved the way his hands felt on her, he had a firm touch and he was by no means timid.

She glanced up at him and saw his eyes trained on her, they had darkened considerably. She grinned cheekily and brought her lips up to meet his, surprising him. She felt his tongue push against bottom lip, demanding entrance.

Daryl groaned loudly when she obliged, allowing him to explore her mouth. It was how and wet, and everything he could have wanted in that moment. He started to pull away and Alex used the opportunity to gently bite his lower lip.

A loud grunt came from outside the truck and both Daryl and Alex nearly jumped out of their skin. Daryl pushed her to the other side of the bed quickly and poked his head up over the side.

Merle was glaring at the truck from his tent, "Do ya mind keeping it down over there?".

Daryl made a face at him, then jumped out of the back of the truck, heading off into the woods without a word.

A disoriented Alex popped her head up, and she grew red when she saw Merle was still staring.

"You don't have to keep quiet, you can be as loud as you want sweetheart," he said with a wink.

Alex grimaced, then hopped out of the truck, and followed Daryl into the forest. He was moving at a fast pace and it took her a little while to catch up with him.

"Hey!", she yelled out, and he could hear anger in her voice.

He whirled around, "What?"

"Help me figure out what the fuck is going on here, cause I'm a little confused. I thought you brought me here because I could hunt, but I've been hearing from some other people in the camp that Merle can hunt too, so what do you need me for? Did you just stumble on the first girl you saw in the woods and think it be a nice idea to bring her back as a bed warmer," she spat.

She was riled up, but she didn't know if it was because of the kiss or because he'd been withholding information.

Daryl was also breathing heavily, "I don't know if you've noticed, but just because Merle can hunt, it doesn't mean he has been. All he's been doing is going and getting high, and I've had to do the hunting for all those softies back at camp. I'm a tracker, not a trapper. I tracked you for days and you never noticed. I saw all those snares and setups you had going and I thought it'd be nice to have some help, since Merle's been doing jack shit."

He paused for a moment, his voice getting husky, "I didn't know you were going to be so gorgeous."

He grabbed the collar of her shirt and yanked her towards him, planting a fierce kiss on her open mouth.

"Does that clear things up for you?" he growled.

"Uh, yeah," she said in surprise.

Daryl tangled his fingers in her hair and kissed her again, walking her backward until she was pinned against a tree. He ravaged her mouth, skillfully teasing her with his tongue. She pulled back slightly and began to suck a trail of hickies down his neck. She heard him give a low, whistling moan, and stopped, cocking her head in confusion. That wasn't a sound she'd heard from him before, but it did sound familiar.

Daryl matched her look with one of his own,"That wasn't me."

Alex glanced over his shoulder and saw a stumbling figure getting closer, "Oh shit."

Daryl turned around, noticing the same thing she had, and reached for his crossbow. His hands reached at the air where it should have been, and he paled as he realized that in his hurry to get away from the truck, he hadn't grabbed it.

Alex already had her knife in her hand, "I got this."

She approached it slowly, carefully watching its movements. When it got close enough, she thrust her knife out, sinking it deep into the undead's temple. It seized up, and fell to the ground with a dull thud.

She sheathed her knife and gave Daryl a cheeky grin, "The next time, you can get it, that is, if you're prepared."

Daryl shook his head in exasperation, "You're going to be trouble, I can tell."

"Trust me I don't look for it, it finds me," she said, pointing to the corpse she had just killed.

"Well see if it can find you back at camp then," he instructed, "Grab your stuff and then we've got to get a move on if we want to get enough for dinner tonight."

"Yes, sir," she joked as she followed him back out of the woods.

Alex spent the majority of her day away from Daryl, learning the lay of the land and trying to figure out where it would be best to set her snares and traps. He had caught the trail of some sort of big game and left her to track it further. Alex had decided it was probably a good thing that they weren't together for a while, she felt so distracted around him since their morning escapade, and she needed a challenge to refocus her mind.

Once she had set her snares the first time, she walked a wide circle of the camp, finding and killing two more of the undead. She was surprised that they didn't maintain a perimeter, aside from their lovely homemade noise making cans. When she completed her circuit, she started another constantly walking and checking on her snares, killing any undead she found.

By the end of the day she had caught seven squirrels and killed four of the undead. Even though she should have headed back, she did one last round, rechecking her snares and keeping her eyes open for more shambling corpses. She was sure the survivors back at camp had no idea how many close calls they had avoided through sheer dumb luck.

Eventually she wandered into their side of camp. Merle was passed out in his tent, and she wondered if he'd even moved once all day. She found Daryl in between the tent and the truck, skinning and gutting a deer.

"Looks like you did pretty well for yourself, you don't even need me," she teased.

He responded by throwing three squirrels at her, "You should do those while you're skinning the rest of yours. That's what we're having tonight since I'm gonna save this and make venison jerky."

Alex's mouth starting watering just at the thought of venison, "Why can't we have it tonight?"

"Cause the cold weather will be coming soon and I would like to have some food stored up. Plus, if the rest of them have deer tonight, they won't want to have the squirrels and they'll go to waste," he explained.

She sighed, she knew he was right, the hierarchy of edible food in the camp did include squirrel, but is was very low down on the list.

She went to work on the squirrels, knowing that it would take her some time to finish the job since she had ten in total, thanks to Daryl's contribution.

When she was over half way done, she saw two of the kids from the camp approaching. They seemed a little nervous and she wondered if they came down to this end of camp very often.

The boy spoke up first, he was holding a pot tightly it his hands, "Uh our moms want to know what we're having for dinner, and how much, and uh, when."

Alex smiled, they seemed just like any other kid, almost untouched by what was going on around them, "We are going to be having squirrel, there's ten of them, and I'll be done cleaning them in the next five minutes."

They continued to stand awkwardly, watching her while she worked, "Well sit down, I'm not going to bite.

The girl gave her a nervous look, and Alex realized it was probably a poor choice of words to use with the kids, but they say down anyways.

"So you must be Carl and you must be Sophia."

They both nodded, but shared a look that Alex couldn't quite decipher.

The girl finally opened her mouth, "My mom says you must've been really brave to be travelling on your own."

"That's nice of your mom."

"But why?" Sophia asked innocently, "Why were you on your own?"

The question caught Alex off guard somewhat and she blinked for a moment. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Daryl pause what he was doing and look over at her, curious in her answer, "They weren't very nice people and I didn't want to travel with them."

"Oh, okay,"Sophia said, accepting her explanation.

Alex sensed that Daryl was not so easy to appease, his gaze was still boring into the back of her head. She ignored him and dumped the squirrel meat into the pot the kids had brought with them, "You can take that back to your moms now."

"Thanks!" Carl said as he scooped up the pot, "See you at dinner."

She waved goodbye to the two kids and they ran back into camp. She glanced over her shoulder at Daryl. but he had already gone back to the deer. She grabbed one of the metal buckets that was lying around their campsite. Alex filled it with the squirrel guts, and whatever else would fit from the deer. She made her way towards to forest, but Daryl grabbed her hand as she passed.

"Go about twelve minutes northwest and you'll find the dumpsite. Walkers hang around there, so be careful," his eyes darkened slightly, "and come back soon."

Alex grinned at him, "Don't you worry about me," then she headed off into the woods.

* * *

AN: I hope everyone liked this chapter, it was sure a lot of fun for me to write! I'm hoping to start getting into Season 1 soon, if all goes according to plan. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed or favourited!

Till next time,

ThreeFoldLaw :)


	5. Chapter 5

AN: I'm going to give my apologies in advance since this chapter contains some information from Season 3 of the show. So FYI, if you haven't gotten that far in the series yet, this may spoil one of the "shocking reveals" from later on, but it doesn't give too much away for now (I think...).

* * *

Alex reentered camp just as dusk was falling. Neither Daryl nor Merle were at their campsite, but she saw that a fire had been started and that the venison was being dehydrated. Farther into the camp she could hear the sounds of people moving around. She wandered into the center, and saw that there were a few remaining people finishing off their dinner. Merle, Andrea, Amy and Glenn were sitting around the fire in silence, shovelling food into their mouths.

"There you are." Amy mumbled through a mouthful of food.

"Did you save any for me?" Alex asked, her stomach grumbling audibly.

She had brought a protein bar with her in the forest, but it wasn't much to sustain her, especially with the amount of energy she was using.

Glenn passed her a spoon and a bowl that was filled with what looked like corn, rice and fried squirrel, all mixed together. She plunked herself down beside him and inhaling the food, eating so fast she nearly choked.

She paused for a moment to breath and looked around, wondering where everyone else was, "So why are there only four of you here?".

Glenn sighed, "Shane's an impatient man, but I wanted to wait for you to get back, and Amy wanted to wait for me, and Andrea didn't want to eat without Amy, and Merle likes to bug Andrea."

Merle laughed, " If by bugging you mean wooing, you'd be right."

Andrea rolled her eyes, "You're not wooing anyone Merle."

"Aw, come on Blondie, you know you like the attention," he teased.

"Not from you," she said exasperatedly.

She got up and grabbed Amy's arm, "Let's get out of here."

Amy sighed, but she got up anyways, she knew how stubborn Andrea was, "I'll see you guys later."

The sisters disappeared into the camper and it was Merle's turn to sigh, "Well they ain't no fun. No point in me being here anymore then."

He walked off without another word, leaving just Glenn and Alex around the fire.

"So, busy day today?" he asked awkwardly.

"Not too bad, I think I'm going to have to set up more traps though. And how was your day?" she replied.

"Uh, kind of boring. There's not a lot for me to do around here when I'm not on a run."

Alex's eyes brightened a bit, "Do you go on runs often?"

"Yeah, as much as I can. It's nice to get away from here sometimes," he admitted.

"I hear you go by yourself mostly, but would you ever consider taking another person?" she inquired.

Glenn squinted at her, "What do you mean?"

"I mean me. I need some stuff but I don't want to walk into Atlanta blind. I would appreciate some experienced eyes, and I'm sure you wouldn't mind someone who experienced with a knife covering your back," she proposed, watching him closely for his reaction.

He took of his hat and ran his fingers through his hair, considering what she had said. He had to admit that it wasn't a bad idea, but he wasn't so sure if he could handle the rest of the group if they saw him going on a run with another person. So far it had been just him, and he liked it like that, but the walkers in Atlanta were starting to grow in numbers and he would appreciate some back up. He put his hat back on, and looked back at her, his decision showing in his eyes.

"You're right, I wouldn't mind it, but I think everyone else might. I know Shane is itching to send some more people along, he doesn't really trust anybody, including me, but I think bringing a big group into Atlanta would be a mistake. I can take you along, but it would have to be under the radar," he told her.

Alex grinned, "I can definitely go under the radar, that's one of my specialties."

Glenn smiled back, "Okay, meet me tomorrow morning after breakfast. I'll be by the dead pine tree that fell by the side of the road, it's about a ten minute walk out of camp."

She mulled it over for a second, "I'm going to have to deal with my snares first, but I can sneak through the woods and meet you after that. No one will even realize I'm gone."

He stuck out his hand, "It's a deal."

She shook his hand firmly, but jumped and pulled her hand back when she heard a voice behind her, "What's a deal?".

Daryl had managed to sneak up on her, something that didn't happen too often. She saw Glen pale, and he began to stutter, scrambling for an excuse.

"Glenn's going to save dinner for me if I'm not back in time," she said smoothly.

"Lucky," he muttered, "No one ever saves any for me, not even Merle."

"You can have the rest of mine," she offered, holding the bowl out to him as he sat down beside her.

She could tell he was wanted to refuse, but she was also pretty sure he was as hungry as she was from hunting all day. He took it from her without a word, but she could tell by the slight upturn of his lips that he was grateful for it.

"Uh, I'll see you guys tomorrow," Glenn said, excusing himself quickly.

Alex wasn't sure if if it was because Daryl had joined them or if it was from how close he was sitting to her. His knee was pressed up against hers and his shoulder kept brushing against her as he ate. They sat together without talking, just listening to the sounds of the camp as people settled in for the night.

"We should probably put the fire out," she commented.

Daryl shook his head, "No, Shane does that. He doesn't like people messing with his fire."

She gave him a look, "_Messing_? With _his_ fire? You're kidding, right?".

She heard footsteps approaching them, and wished she had bitten her tongue when Shane came into view with a scowl on his face.

"Oh, he's not kidding. I don't like people messing with my fire," Shane said angrily.

Alex put her hands out defensively, "Okay, whatever you want."

"Yeah, whatever I want," he echoed again, "now, you can both leave so I can put this out properly."

She ground her teeth, but left anyways. She had met pricks like Shane before, she knew what would happen if she tried to reason with him and she wasn't looking to pick a fight. It was best that she leave him be for the time being.

As they walked back to the Dixon's camp, she could feel Daryl's breath on the back of her neck as he trailed her closely.

"You know you're kind of cute when you're all riled up," he muttered softly in her ear.

She couldn't help but smile at his charm, "You should see me when I'm really angry then."

Just as they were reaching the truck, he grabbed her hand, stopping her in her tracks. He spun her around and yanked her towards him. He released her hand, but moved his up to her face, grabbing either side roughly.

"Believe me, I would give anything to see that," he said as he kissed her hard.

Alex gasped in surprise, and he took advantage of her open mouth, using his tongue to deepen the kiss further. She responded well though, fighting fire with fire and flicked his tongue with her own. Daryl's hands began to roam, following the curves of her body. He cupped her breasts before he continued downwards, wrapping his hands around her ass and squeezing.

"Get a room, ya animals!" Merle yelled out, interrupting them for the second time that day.

Daryl paused, pulling away slightly to rest his forehead against hers, "You should get some sleep," he whispered.

"So should you," Alex said.

"I will," he told her, releasing her reluctantly.

He watched as she climbed into the back of the truck, wishing that he was following after her, but he had to tend to the fire. If it got too hot, they would have ashes instead of venison jerky, however it wasn't the only fire he had to deal with, Merle had been wanting to talk to him all day, but he had been avoiding the conversation.

He went over to the fire and gabbed the rags that were sitting there, then he flipped the venison to ensure that it was cooking evenly. Merle, went over to the fire as well, but he had entirely different reason.

"Come on little brother, we got some talking to do." he said gruffly.

Daryl wasn't especially excited for their chat, but he followed Merle to the edge of their campsite nonetheless.

"So, did you scope out the place?" he asked first.

"Of course I did, that's about the only thing I can do around here," Merle snapped back.

"And?"

"We're gonna strip them clean," he said with a slightly evil grin.

"Including the girl?"

Merle gave him a look, "That depends on you and her, lover boy. If she's like them, we'll rob her too, but if she's 'morally ambiguous' like us, she can tag along."

The sophisticated words sounded wrong coming from his brother, and Daryl figured he'd probably picked it up from the old man. Dale had a gift for insulting people, and hiding it by dressing it up in fancy words.

"When are we gonna do this?" he questioned.

"Next two or three days, depends on when we can distract everyone and when I get my hands on some more guns."

"Fine, just give me a heads up when you're good to go," Daryl muttered, trying to escape back to the truck.

Merle stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, "Little brother, you've gotta start thinking with the right head when it comes to your girlfriend," he gave a wink at the end so Daryl would catch the dirty innuendo.

He shrugged off his brother's hand, somehow Merle always managed to make him feel guilty about something. He didn't know if the girl was morally ambiguous, maybe she was, and maybe she wasn't. What he did know was that she was smart and brave, and that she would probably survive with, or without him, but he didn't want her to have to.

As he climbed into the bed beside her, he could smell the nice scent from her hair and he could feel how smooth her skin was, and he realized that he was a selfish glutton. All he wanted to do was to touch every inch of her, have her taste in his mouth, have her moan his name, but he knew his guilt wouldn't let him. It was gnawing away at his stomach already, even as he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her back up against his chest and burying his face in her hair. She had let him do that, pushing herself closer to him, snuggling in under that blanket as he settled himself protectively around her.

She trusted him when he knew she shouldn't He wasn't the nice guy she thought he was, but he liked to pretend to be anyways. Sooner or later she would come to realize that he was a mean, son of a bitch, just like his brother, but for now he wanted to enjoy being a kind person.

Who was he kidding though, he also wanted to enjoy the way he butt felt pushed up against his groin. He knew he had gotten himself into a tight spot, but if he was being honest with himself, he knew he didn't really want to get out of it if it felt this good.

Alex did not sleep well that night, she had drifted in and out of a light sleep, paranoid that she was going to oversleep and miss Glenn. At some point she had just given up on getting any rest and watched the moon travel across the sky. She was nestled in Daryl's arms, and as much as she would have loved to stay like that, she knew that it was going to be a problem. When the stars started to disappear, she slowly began to ease her way out of his grasp.

He was in a deep sleep this time and didn't try to pull her back to him, although she almost wished he had. She stealthily crawled over the side of the truck, and dropped to the ground, making almost no sound.

The night before, when Daryl and Merle had disappeared for a few minutes, she had used the opportunity to empty most of her things into the cab of the truck and stash her almost empty bag behind the rear wheel. She took it out, careful to be very quiet as she slung it over her shoulders.

Alex made her way into the forest, starting her first loop. As she moved, she set up some extra snares. She knew she wouldn't be there to check on them continuously, so she had to have enough to make it seem as if she was.

The sun was just coming up when she found the dead tree Glenn had been referring to. She knew he wouldn't be there for a while yet, so she decided to finish her circuit, setting up a few more snares and collecting two squirrels that had been caught sometime during the night. She briefly contemplated bringing them with her, but she knew she was going to be heading into an area that was highly populated with the undead, and didn't want to have anything on her that would attract them. Instead, she used her rope to tie them high in a tree, out of reach of any of the undead that may pass by.

By the time she completed her first round, the sun had risen higher in the sky and Glenn was waiting for her by the dead tree.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

She fell into step beside him, "Yeah, you weren't waiting long for me?"

"No, I just got here, you have good timing," he told her.

"Good," she said with a yawn.

"Long night?" he asked, his words innocent, but his tone implying something else.

Alex laughed, "No, it's not like that. I just didn't sleep well that's all."

Glenn looked at her skeptically, "Are you sure about that?".

Her smile faded, "What do you mean?".

He said nothing for a moment, but she could see a blush reddening his cheeks, "What is it Glenn?".

"Some of the women are placing bets on when you two are going to shack up," he admitted.

It was Alex's turn to blush, "Some of the women?".

"Well all of them really, but a few have already lost, from what Amy told me."

"When do they have time to be making bets like that?", Alex asked indignantly.

"They all wash the laundry together, and they like to talk about interesting stuff I guess. It can be pretty boring there sometimes. But don't worry about them, they're harmless," he said, trying to make her feel better.

She sighed, wondering what she had expected, Daryl wasn't the most subtle person, and she wasn't exactly trying to keep it keep it a secret that she was attracted to him.

She swallowed her pride, "So who's lost so far?"

"Uh, Andrea. Carol's got her money on a week or two, Andrea's thinking it'll be a month. Jacqui thinks after you're 'married', whatever that means," he let out a chuckle as something else came to mind, "And Amy thought it would be never, since you're 'not that kind of girl'."

Alex chuckled with him, "I may be that kind of girl, give me enough time and we'll find out."

"So, you and Amy have been hanging out a lot," she commented, waiting to see Glenn's reaction.

He didn't disappoint, he started fidgeting and he couldn't meet Alex's gaze.

She gave him a gentle push on the shoulder, "You sly dog! Maybe if we give you enough time, you'll turn into that kind of guy."

They continued to joke and laugh as they travelled down the highway. She wasn't too worried about drawing in any of the undead, they were in a wide open space, and the sounds of their talking wasn't going to travel very far. However, as they got closer to the city, their got lower and lower until they were both speaking in a whisper.

"I take it you've already taken everything that was worth taking from most of the stores on the edge of the city?" she enquired.

"For the most part. There's a Mom 'n' Pop store that I haven't been in yet," he admitted.

"Why?".

"Because mom and pop are still in there, and they're not the people the used to be. They turned into these… these walkers," he told her sadly.

"You knew them?" she implied.

Glenn shook his head, "Not well, but…" he trailed off.

"But it's hard to put down someone you knew rather than a stranger," she finished for him.

"Yeah," he agreed.

Neither of them said anything for a while as they entered the city, but Alex finally spoke up, "I can do it," she offered.

Glenn took a deep breath, "Okay, we'll go this way then."

He veered off to the left leading her close to a group of low lying buildings compared to the rest of Atlanta's skyscrapers. They ducked into an alleyway and he pointed to a fire escape, indicating for her to follow him up. Glenn climbed quickly and quietly, Alex did the same as she went up behind him.

Once they were on the roof, he finally spoke up, "There's two floors in total, no basement. The upstairs was where they lived, and the main floor is where the shop is. Last time I was here, the upstairs was clear of walkers so I shut the door that connected the two floors."

"Good, it means we have an advantage," Alex said as she followed him into the building.

He led her through what once once the people's living areas, until the reached the stairwell. She could see that there was a heavy steel door that was shut at the bottom.

Alex pulled her knife from its sheath, "Stay here," she ordered Glenn.

She descended cautiously down, not making a sound until she reached the door. She turned the handle slowly, and cracked it open barely an inch. She peered through the gap and saw two of the undead standing behind the cashier's counter, which had inconveniently acted as a pen, keeping the walkers confined to the area closest to the steel door. Past the counter, she could see a few more milling about. She weighed the options, then taking a deep breath, yanked the door open and banged on it a few times to attract the attention of the undead. She turned and raced back up the stairs, stopping at the top.

"You may want to wait on the roof," she suggested forcefully.

Glenn did as she said and disappeared topside, leaving her to deal with mom and pop, who were scaling the stairs after her. She let pop get close to the top of the stairs, then drove her knife deep into his eye. She withdrew her hand and kicked him in the chest, causing him to fall backwards to the bottom of the stairs, coming to rest at the bottom and pinning mom underneath him.

Alex made her way back down, kneeling and finishing mom off with a stab to the face when she reached the base of the stairs. As she passed through the doorway, she saw the dead customers reaching over the counter, trying to get to her, but essentially presenting themselves like lambs to the slaughter. She went over and took them out one by one, grimacing as she did, this was not an act that she especially enjoyed, but it was necessary and someone had to do it.

When she was done, she pushed the bodies off the counter and they flopped onto the ground. From the corner of the store she could hear a hissing, and realized that one of the walkers had been pinned beneath a fallen shelf. She hopped over the counter, and finished the job, wiping her now blood soaked hands on her jeans.

She made her way over to the bottom of the stairwell and called up, "It's clear Glenn," then started to examine the store with a critical eye.

"Holy shit!" she swore under her breath.

"What is it?" Glenn whispered with concern.

"You didn't tell me this store had a hunting and camping section," she said excitedly, "bring your bag over here."

Glenn followed her over to the area she was talking about and presented his open back pack for her. She began to carefully place items into it, packing it so that she could fit the greatest amount supplies possible.

"Here's dehydrated food, some water purifiers, and soap leaves," she said, nearly moaning at the thought of soap and being clean again.

"They don't have a lot of stock on the shelves, but what they do have is great stuff," Glenn observed.

"Here's the ammo over here," she pointed at the bullets, and they moved along, filling his bag with even more stuff until it was about halfway full.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw the knife display, "Score!".

"I've got a list of some stuff that other people need from camp, so I'm going to grab those," Glenn told her.

"Okay," Alex agreed, not entirely listening as she looked over the knives.

She started to pick them up one by one, feeling their weight, testing them until she had eliminated all but three. She found sheaths for them, then stowed them in her bag.

She continued on along the shelves, whispering loudly to Glenn as she moved, "What else did we need?"

"Anything edible in a can, and an extra can opener if you find one," he said from another aisle.

She made her way from the hunting and camping section to the grocery part of the store. There wasn't a lot of canned goods to choose from, there were, peas, beans, corn and carrots, but nothing much else. She took as much as she could fit, leaving only a small space at the top for a few more personal items she wanted to get.

"I couldn't find a can opener," she admitted.

Glenn grinned cheekily at her, "I found two."

Alex scrunched up her face at him, "That's not even fair!"

He laughed, "Did you get everything?"

"Almost, just let me grab a few more things," she said, making her way up a few more of the aisles, and stocking her bag with the last couple items she needed.

Alex found him waiting by the counter, eyeing the walkers that she had put down, "Okay, I'm good to go now."

Glenn looked at her bag skeptically, "That's pretty full, are you going to be able to carry that all the way back?"

"Well, the faster we walk, the faster we get back and the less time I have to lug this around," she hinted.

"Hey, I'm not the one who took so long," he teased.

"And I'm not the one who's still running my mouth," Alex shot back jokingly.

Glenn put his hands up in mock surrender, "Let's get a move on then.

She followed him as he retraced their steps back up the stairs, stepping gingerly over mom and pop. When they got onto the roof, she could see that the sun was high in the sky, and she guessed it was probably around noon, giving them lots of time to get back to camp.

They went slowly down the fire escape this time, being careful not to lose their balance. They left the alley and started to head back to the highway. From behind them, she heard one of the undead make his way down the road.

"I think we're being followed, but it's just one," she said in a low voice.

Glenn swore under his breath, "Shit! There's never just one in Atlanta, we've got to get out of here."

They began to walk faster and faster as more walkers emerged from the alleyways, forming a herd that shambled faster and faster towards them, gaining more ground than Glenn and Alex were.

Alex put a hand on Glenn's shoulder, "Wait."

He nervously slowed to a stop as she reached into her pocket, producing a handful of quarter sized duck tape balls. She whirled around and threw one of them into the middle of the let off a loud bang that echoed through the street, scattering and confusing the walkers.

"Now run!" she hissed, and they took off at a sprint.

* * *

AN: Well, this chapter took way longer to flesh out, but on the plus side, it is the lengthiest one to date! I also really enjoyed writing this one, especially because we're seeing character development (Gotta love that character development!).

At this point, I figured Alex would start referring to the undead as walkers, since she's been in the camp for a while and would start picking up on their lingo. However, she won't be using the term zombie. Fun fact of the day: Robert Kirkman's comics, and the TV show are actually set in an AU, in which the concept of zombies (movies, books, comics, survival guides etc) don't exist, so I'm going to align this story with that AU.

Stay tuned cause I've got some juicy bits planned for the next chapter! *rubs hands together with a devious grin*

Till next time,

ThreeFoldLaw :)


	6. Chapter 6

Warning: This chapter contains smutty goodness!

* * *

Alex and Glenn kept sprinting until they were well out of city and back onto the highway. Glenn stuttered to a stop and dropped down to his haunches, letting the weight of his bag pull him back so that he was sitting on the ground. Alex came to rest beside him, putting her hands on her knees and sucking in the air that her lungs were screaming for.

"What were those things?" he asked, his voice hitching as he gasped between each word.

Alex had to take a few more deep breaths before she could answer him, "Cap bomb."

"A what?" he said, giving her a confused look.

"You ever fire a cap gun when you were younger?".

He nodded without talking, still trying to catch his own breath.

"It's the cap paper, wrapped around a penny and secured with duct tape. Easy to make and wicked fun to set off," she said, her chest heaving.

I'll keep that in mind," Glenn muttered, pulling himself up off the road.

Alex looked back at the city in the distance, "We covered a lot of ground, should get us back quicker."

"At least some good came out of that mad dash," he commented as they started to walk again.

She didn't say anything for a while after that, she had something weighing on her mind. She chewed her lip in indecision, but finally just spat it out.

"Don't mention the cap bombs to anyone else," it was more of an order than a request.

Glenn gave her a look, "Uh, okay?"

She sighed, "They work on the undead just fine, whether they see it coming or not, but the living are different. For them, the cap bombs are only efficient if the element of surprise is intact."

"You would use those on people?" he questioned.

She grimaced, "If I absolutely have to, I will, but I prefer not to."

He raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "I'm not gonna get in your way then."

She smiled and pushed his shoulder jokingly, trying to lighten the mood, "Like you would have messed with me anyways."

Glenn managed to keep his face blank for a whole three seconds before a laugh broke out of him, "Yeah right! I think the only person who might be stupid enough to mess with you would be Shane… Or maybe Daryl," he said, needling her in the ribs with his elbow.

"Yeah, maybe Daryl," she admitted, blushing despite her best efforts.

They turned off the highway, their boots crunching on the gravel beneath their feet as they travelled up the road to the camp. When they reached the fork in the road, she excused herself.

"I should go check on my snares, if I head into camp with you people are probably going to figure it out," Alex mentioned.

A large figure emerged from the forest, "Figure what out exactly?" Shane asked darkly.

Glenn and Alex both tensed, Shane was the last person either of them wanted to see at that moment.

"You see, Dale saw both off you leave this morning, and I thought that was odd, because Glenn never lets anyone go on runs with him. So I had Dale watch for when you came back, and here you both are with full bags," he said angrily, "And there's some people back at camp, including myself you are waiting to ask you some questions, so you had best follow me."

Alex bit her tongue, she had a sense that she was about to walk into a Spanish Inquisition.

Shane's hand wandered down to rest on his gun, "Get walking," he ordered.

She clenched her fists, but did as she was told. Shane waited for them to walk past him before he followed in step, looming behind them ominously.

There was a crowd waiting for them when they got into the camp. The air was literally buzzing with tension from everyone present, and not many people looked too happy. As they entered Dale approached Shane.

"Is this really necessary? I mean, all they did was get more supplies for the group," he tried to reason.

"Are you sure? How well do you know this new girl? Cause I sure as hell don't know her well enough to trust her. She could have gotten anything. Plus that's not even her job," Shane raised his voice as he spoke, making sure the whole group could hear.

Alex rolled her eyes, "Actually I was doing my job. I was brought in to help provide food, and that's what I did. I may have gotten a few personal items as well, but that doesn't change my purpose for going in to Atlanta."

"Personal items? That could be anything," Shane yelled, reaching up his hands, trying to yank the bag off her shoulders.

She felt her anger bubble over and she pushed him back hard, making him stumble. She slung the bag off her back, putting it on the ground in front of her.

"Oh, let me see what we have here," she said sarcastically, "A can of corn."

As she identified the can, she threw it at Shane with considerable force, catching him square in the chest.

"Hmm, beans, corn, peas, peas, carrots, more beans!" she continued to hit him with the cans as she pulled them out.

The rest of the group seemed to have fallen into a trance, watching her pitch canned goods at their leader.

"And here is the personal item," she said, producing a box of tampons, "this must be so dangerous and threatening to everyone.

She could see most of the men, including Shane become uncomfortable, and back off slightly.

Lori went over to Shane and put a hand on his shoulder, "I don't think those are going to hurt anyone."

"Unless she throws those at you too," Dale snickered softly, drawing a laugh from everyone else.

Without another word, he shook off Lori's hand, then turned on his heel, stalking off. Some of the people gathered around Glenn, and Alex could tell that he was about to get interrogated for bringing another person along on his run. She tried to step in and help him, but a quiet voice from behind her stopped her.

"What were you planning on doing with the cans?" Carol asked meekly.

"I was going to leave them with either you or Lori, seeing as you ladies do most of the cooking.

"Do you mind if we use some of them tonight?" she inquired.

Alex shrugged, "They're yours now to decide what you want to do with them, I'm not going to tell you how to cook, you seem to do that pretty well already."

Carol gave her a thin lipped smile, "Can you drop them off in the food box for me?"

"Yeah, where is it?"

"It's in between our tent and Lori's tent," she told Alex, then she scurried off, back to her husband, who was watching their every move.

By the time Alex was done talking with Carol, Glenn had managed to get away from the mob that had surrounded him. She grabbed him by the elbow, and steered him to the far side of the camp, where Carol had told her the food box was located.

"So when's the lynching?" she joked.

"Tomorrow", he answered seriously, "like five of them insisted that I take them to Atlanta, and I'm sure more will want to."

"That sounds like fun, you enjoy that," she told him.

Glenn gave her a confused look, "You're not coming?"

"Not after what went down today," she admitted.

While she hadn't appreciated Shane's interrogation, she knew from the rest of the content in her bag, that he had reason to be suspicious. As she and Glenn emptied the food from their bags, her hand kept rubbing up against the nearly full bottle of vodka that she had found hidden behind the cashier's shelf, not to mention the large box of condoms that she had grabbed on a whim, or the three knives that were practically burning a hole in the bottom of her backpack.

"I should go check on my traps, cause I have a feeling if I don't come back with anything, they're going to string me up next," she grumbled

"Will you be back in time for dinner?" He asked.

"Don't worry, I won't let you eat just rabbit food," she said, indicating the many cans of vegetables they had brought back with them.

"Then you have my permission to go," he said, in an oddly fatherly tone.

"Yes sir," she gave him a mock salute.

She headed off into the woods, her stomach fluttering with nervous excitement. Once she had gotten far enough away from the camp that she was sure no one had followed her, she pulled the bottle out and took a swig of vodka. It burned going down her throat, and caused her to cough a bit, but nonetheless, she enjoyed it. It had been so long since she had been able to have a drink, so long since she had been safe enough to let her guard down. She took one more long drink from the bottle before hiding it again, she knew she had to pace herself, she was a lightweight and if she went too hard, too fast, she would be stumbling and slurring by the time she got back to camp. However, she didn't intend on denying herself the whole time she was in the woods, every time one of her traps had caught something, she would allow herself a drink.

She realized halfway through her first circle of the camp, that this was not a good plan. With all the extra traps she had set, she was already up to seven squirrels, which meant seven shots of vodka. When she got to her thirteenth snare, she was really buzzed, but also quite excited. As she approached she could hear the distressed cries of some fowl. She emerged from a dense grove of trees that had been blocking her view, and her smile quickly faded. Two dead walkers were spread all over the area around the pheasant that was caught. Someone had gutted them, letting their innards spill everywhere.

She had a feeling that Daryl was probably behind this. The way the walkers had been dispatched, but the pheasant left alone seemed like a way to draw more of the undead to a central location. As she observed the mess, she realized why the pheasant was making so much noise, one of the walkers had bitten off a leg.

Alex sighed, she knew she wasn't going to be able to keep it, so she was going to have to shut it up. She stepped over the walkers, making her way to the fowl, but she wasn't being as cautious as she normally was due the effects of the alcohol. As she moved, her foot got tangled up in the intestines of the dead and she slipped, pitching forward onto one of the bodies. She put her arms out to brace herself, which was a mistake, as the walker was already fairly decomposed and her hands sunk into the body cavity.

She yelped as her hands touched the remaining organs, brushing the spine and the finally broke through the other side, and slammed onto the ground. When she came to rest she was disgusted. Her forearms were buried deeply inside the walker, causing blood to splatter into her face, not to mention that she had intestines all over her lower body.

"Fuck!" she swore loudly, not caring who heard at that point.

"Sounds like someone's having a good day,"Daryl said with a laugh as he came into view.

Alex was mad at that point, "I was having a great day actually. My day was going just fine," she spat.

"Woah, calm down there spitfire! What's gotten into you?" he asked in surprise.

"No, it's what I got into," she corrected, pulling herself onto her knees.

The pheasant was now screaming loudly, due to the disturbance Alex had caused and the sound was worming its way annoyingly into her ears. She grabbed her knife from its sheath and lunged at it, severing it's head it one quick strike.

Daryl jolted into action, trying to get to her, but he too slipped on a slick patch of walker blood. Luckily he fell onto his side, avoiding crushing his crossbow he had slung over his back. Unfortunately though, he too now was covered in walker gore.

"Jeezus," he swore in disgust.

"Tell me about it," Alex mumbled.

Daryl sighed and got up, moving out of range of the blood spatter and ensuring that he had sure footing before offering his hand to Alex.

"Where have you been?", he asked, "I've had to check on your traps all day."

"Went to Atlanta with Glenn," she admitted as she took his hand, but she wasn't able to say any else.

As he pulled her up, he caught her in his grasp, putting his other hand under her chin and opening her mouth so he could kiss her.

Forgetting her bloody hands, she reached up and grabbed his shirt pulling him close as their tongues danced.

Alex found him intoxicating, almost as much as the alcohol was, but Daryl pulled away slightly.

He looked at her inquisitively, "Is that...?"

"Vodka," she confirmed with a cheeky smile.

He kissed her again hard, this time unrelenting, his hands roaming down from her neck. He unzipped her jacket slowly, reaching the bottom and sliding his hands underneath her tanks top. He skimmed his fingers just above her waistband, making her shiver in delight.

Daryl's hands travelled back upwards, brushing the bottom band of her bra. He slipped his hand underneath, cupping her naked breast in his palm. She groaned into his mouth, swirling her tongue around his. She withdrew slightly, kissing a hot trail down his neck, nipping him slightly as she went. She stopped at the collar of his shirt, pulling it aside slightly. She latched onto his skin with her mouth, sucking hard. Daryl growled, and grabbed her tighter, she could feel his erection pressing into her thigh. He dragged gus thumb across her nipple, making her sigh and release him, revealing a large purple love bite.

Daryl wanted to take her right there, rip her clothes off and have his way with her, but they were both starting to smell like rotting walker since they were covered in old blood.

He pulled away slightly, "We need to get cleaned up."

Alex giggled, "No, I like being dirty."

She was trying to be funny, but the way she said it made Daryl's adrenaline rush, and he almost continued what they had been doing.

"You got a change of clothes?" he asked.

"Mhm, it's in the cab of the truck with all my other stuff," she told him.

"Okay, give me the squirrels," he ordered.

He smiled mischievously as she obliged, "Now hand over the vodka."

Alex made a face, "Why?"

"Because I can't catch up if you have it," he explained with a grin.

She gave him a look, but pulled the bottle out of her bag and tossed it at him. He unscrewed it and took a long gulp.

"Hey!" she cried out, "Leave some for me."

"You stay right there and be a good girl, and I'll bring some back for you," he promised teasingly, as he walked off, the bottle in one hand and a brace of squirrels in the other.

The alcohol that was in her system made time pass faster, and Daryl was back quicker than she thought. However, this time, he had replaced the squirrels with a bag of clothes.

"Follow me," he ordered as he walked past her.

She trailed behind him, reaching for the bottle he was holding out. She grabbed it and poured it down her throat. She had expected it to burn, but she had drunk enough by that point that she barely felt it.

"Where are we going?" she questioned.

He gave her a sideways glance and flexed his outstretched fingers, indicating that he wanted the bottle back.

She gave it to him, and he took another long drink before answering, "There's a kind of pond at the north end of the camp, it should be clear by now as every one's preparing for dinner, so we'll have it all to ourselves."

"Sounds like fun," she admitted.

"I'm surprised you hadn't found it by now," he told her.

She laughed, "I stuck to the forest because that's where the game is. There's no sense in setting snares in the middle of a lake."

He chuckled along with her, passing the bottle back, and watching with guilty pleasure as she wrapped her lips around the opening.

On a whim he grabbed her arm, pulling the bottle away and replacing it with his mouth. His other hand buried itself in her hair to hold her in place as he ravaged her mouth again. He licked the alcohol from her lips. He moaned slightly, then released her, he had to focus on getting to the pond.

They continued on their way, passing the bottle back and forth until they reached the rock outcropping that overlooked the pond. Alex gave a delighted gasp, then took off down the pathway. She threw her backpack to the ground, then jumped into the water fully clothed. He sighed and followed her, dropping the clothes, his crossbow and the now empty bottle of vodka by her stuff then went in after her.

When he surfaced, he saw that she was already scrubbing the walker blood from her clothes.

He swam closer to her, "Well, you just get down to business, don't you?"

She grinned, "Business before pleasure."

"Damn straight," he agreed, starting on his own clothes.

Since they hadn't allowed the blood to fully dry, it came out fairly easily, and before they knew it, their clothes were blood free. Alex was the first one done, she swam over the the water's edge and hauled herself out. Her wet clothes hung onto her like a second skin and were very restrictive. She started by peeling off her jacket, revealing her tank top and bare arms. It struck Daryl as odd that she had been in the camp for almost a week and he'd never seen her with her jacket off. She plunked herself down on her ass and untied her shoes, yanking them and her socks off. Her pants came off next, revealing a light blue thong that got Daryl's blood pumping..

By this time, he too had climbed out, and started shedding his clothes as he watched her strip. She pulled her tank top over her head and tossed it on the ground, showing off her lean body. She glanced over her shoulder and gave Daryl a cheeky wink before jumping back into the water. It took Daryl less time to get rid of his clothes after that, ripping off his shirt and his pants, then following in after her.

Alex had sneakily watched as Daryl had removed his clothes, She had noticed the scars and tattoos on his back, which had peaked her curiosity. However, when he removed his pants, she didn't need any extra help to envision what kind of lover he was. The water made his boxers stick tightly onto his skin, accentuating his hard cock and leaving nothing to the imagination.

Normally she would have been blushing redder than a tomato, but the alcohol had diminished her inhibitions to nearly nothing. Instead, she felt twinges of excitement, making a familiar heat pool below her stomach.

This time, when Daryl got back in the water, he stayed where it was shallower so he could keep his feet on the ground.

He gave Alex a lustful gaze, "Get over here."

It was definately an order, not a request, and she did as she was told for once. She stood in front of him, going up on her tippy toes to reach his lips. As she kissed him, she wound her arms around his back, her fingers tracing his scars.

He jumped back slightly, breaking the kiss. He could tell that she was about to ask a question he didn't want to answer.

"Don't," he growled in warning.

She gave him a questioning look, but didn't say anything and went back to caressing his shoulders, making him shudder. He reached underneath the water and grabbed her thighs, lifting her off the ground, and forcing her to wrap her legs around her waist, pinning his erection between their bodies.

Alex used her new leverage to grind her hips against him, drawing an involuntary groan from his lips. He slid his hands further down to cup her ass and pulled her even closer. He was thankful that they hadn't wandered too far away from the shore and he maneuvered them back onto land. Alex was lying on her back on the silty ground, wriggling around with a goofy smile plastered on her face, clearly a symptom of the alcohol.

Daryl settled his body overtop hers, stilling her movements with his intense stare. He pinned her hands beside her head, and dipped his head, catching her lips in a scorching open mouthed kiss. She writhed underneath his body, rubbing up against his stiff cock. She broke away from the his mouth, and began to kiss a long line of sloppy wet kisses down his body. She fought against the hands that were holding her and hooked a leg around his waist, using it to convince him to flip over.

She perched herself over his hips and continued her assault on bis body. Alex made her way down to his stomach, then went a little lower, running her tongue along the edge of his waistband. She dipped underneath it, swirling around the head of his erection and eliciting a response from Daryl. He reached for a handful of her wet locks and tightened his grip on them, groaning as she pulled his boxers down to free him.

Alex grinned nastily and looked up briefly to see his dark eyes stuck on her. His chest was heaving and every muscle in his body was tense.

"Don't you dare stop," he threatened cautiously, as much as he wanted her to continue, he didn't want to scare her off.

He didn't have much to worry about though, Alex was too into driving him wild to let up. She took him in her mouth, cutting off anything else he had to say. She started shallow, them slowly took him deeper with every bob off her head. As she moved she swirled her tongue around his cock, drawing more strangled moans from him. She took him as deep as she could, almost choking on him, then she released him before doing it again slowly. She continued doing this, speeding up until Daryl started to reach his breaking point.

She felt his hand grip her hair even more, pulling to the point of causing her pain. He clenched his teeth as he came and managed to look at Alex as he lost control, nearly losing his mind as well when he saw the naughty glint that was in her eye. When she had gotten every last drop from him, she sat up and wiped her mouth with the back of hand.

"It's been a while since I've done that," she admitted.

Daryl rested a hand on her hip, his eyes half closed, "You're definitely not out of practice," he mumbled.

She smirked, and pushed herself off of him, then made her way over to the bag of clothes he had dropped. She pulled out another tank top and her spare pair of cargo pants, but there was no underwear at all.

She glanced back to Daryl, who was still lounging on the shore. He seemed less intimidating now that he had let his guard down.

"Uh, you didn't bring any underwear for me," she told him.

It was Daryl's turn to smile, "I know."

His statement caught her off guard and her jaw dropped as she realized that he had done it on purpose. She quickly recovered, promising herself that she would get him back.

Alex wasted no time in changing, her limbs were slightly uncoordinated from the effects of the alcohol, but she managed to strip off her wet underclothes and put on the change of clothes Daryl had brought her. She felt slightly uncomfortable with her bare arms, but since she didn't have an extra jacket, she figured she'd have to put up with it for the time being.

She pulled Daryl's clothes from his bag and tossed them at him, "Hurry up slow poke."

He caught the clothes and got up, walking over to her with a bit of a saunter in his step. He grabbed her waist and planted a kiss on her.

"You get going, I'll catch up later," he told her.

"I'll be waiting for you, so don't take too long," she warned, a playful note entering her voice as she kissed him back.

"I won't," he assured her as he released her.

She grabbed her bag from the ground, shoving the empty bottle and her wet clothes into it, then took off back towards the camp, intent on making good on the promise she had made Glenn earlier.

* * *

AN: Okay, so I apologize for the wait, it took me longer to write this chapter than I anticipated (I blame it on my uni profs and their affinity for non-stop midterms). However, I'm hoping that the numerous action and smutty scenes make up for it! I'm definitely looking forward to your reviews for this chapter, so don't be shy to share what you think!

Thanks to Mooka333, UndeadMama and Destineyrose18 for your reviews from the last chapter!

Till next time,

ThreeFoldLaw :)


	7. Chapter 7

It took some time, but Daryl eventually got up and headed back to camp. As much as he had wanted to follow Alex back, he knew he had Merle to contend with. When he got back to the truck, he found his brother waiting for him.

"The new girl tells me that you showed her the ol' watering hole," he commented, a lewd glint in his eye.

"Yeah, so?" Daryl challenged.

Merle laughed at his little brother's defensiveness, "That's not all you showed her was it?", he implied.

"Shut up!" he growled, not in the mood for Merle and his teasing.

Merle chuckled again, watching Daryl get all riled up over a girl was one of his favourite pastimes. However, there were more pressing matters at hand, so he would have to save the taunting for later.

"I'm gonna go to Atlanta tomorrow," he said.

Daryl raised an eyebrow, "So when do you plan on casing the camp?".

Merle shrugged, "Not tomorrow, Shane's been watching us pretty close, so I'm gonna go get close to blondie for the day."

"I never knew you liked blonds so much," Daryl commented dryly.

"I never knew you had a thing for brunettes," Merle shot back.

"Nah, just this one," he mumbled to himself.

"You better be careful lover boy, or that girl's gonna get you in trouble."

He waved off Merle's comment dismissively and stalked away, intent on finding Alex.

She was where he expected her to be, hanging out around the fire with some of the others. He flopped down beside Alex, discreetly resting his hand on the small of her back. She swayed slightly at his touch and looked at him with half lidded eyes, barely concealing a yawn as she did.

Alex handed him a bowl, "It's a good thing you showed up when you did, I had to fight Glenn off from eating your dinner."

"Hasn't he got his own?" He said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well those trips into Atlanta take a lot out of you," she told him.

He nudged her playfully with his elbow, "Is that why you're so tired then?"

She shrugged, a goofy smile plastered on her face, "Probably."

She laid her head against his shoulder, "You should hurry up and eat, Glenn's still eyeing your food."

He glanced over to Glenn, who was indeed watching him, but not for the reason Alex had assumed. He could see the suspicion in the other man's gaze and he felt his stomach drop.

He could understand why Glenn would look at him that way, although Alex was by no means underage, she was still pretty young. Daryl shrugged the thought off though, what they were doing was consensual. He fixed Glenn with his own cold stare, until the other man looked away.

Alex was still leaning her head on his shoulder, and he felt her body slump into him. By the time he was done eating, she had started snoring softly and everyone else had left except fr Dale.

"You're gonna take care of her?" the old man asked somewhat skeptically.

"Yeah, I've got her," Daryl confirmed, not appreciating Dale's lack of faith in him.

He shrugged, taking Daryl's empty dish from him, and freeing his hands, "Good luck."

"Won't need it," he muttered to himself, shaking Alex to try and wake her. She blearily opened her eyes, mumbled something incoherent, and then went back to sleep.

Daryl sighed and got up, shaking her again, until she responded by swatting at him. He easily caught her hands and pulled her into a standing position. She stumbled a bit and regained her balance by throwing her arms around Daryl's neck, holding on tightly. He stopped for a moment, he had planned on throwing her over his shoulder, but he liked where this was going a lot better.

He slid his hands down from her waist to grip her thighs, pulling them close to his waist. She tightly squeezed her legs around him and buried her head in the crook of his neck. He could feel the vibrations through to his chest as she laughed.

"Well hey there," she slurred, gripping him even tighter and molding her body to his like a second skin.

"Hey yourself," he said back.

"You're very strong," she observed as he carried her back to the truck.

"Don't try to butter me up, it's not going to work," he told her.

"I just call em like I see em," she shot back.

Daryl grinned and set her down on the back of the flatbed, releasing her legs. However, Alex didn't release him, she kept her legs wrapped around him, planting a kiss on his neck. She slowly loosened her grip around his neck and brought her hands to his chest, one of which was tracing the skin at the edge of his shirt collar. The simple skin to skin contact gave Daryl goosebumps and he shuddered slightly.

"Aren't you gonna give me a goodnight kiss?" she asked teasingly.

He obliged, pressing his warm lips to hers, but not going much further. He didn't want to encourage her too far, seeing as Merle was sleeping only a few feet away. Alex ignored his cues, her tongue darting out to trace his lips. He groane slightly at the contact, and she took advantage of his open mouth to deepen the kiss, swirling her tongue around his. She wound her hands back up near his face, running her thumbs along his jaw on either side. She stopped, resting them against his neck, pulling him even closer to her, and kissing him hard.

Daryl was quickly losing himself, although her kisses were sloppy, the wetness was driving him crazy. She kept pulling him closer, wiggling her hips against his pelvis as she did. He was tempted to take things a little further, but she broke the kiss with a hiccup, and he remembered how much she had drank that day.

"Goodnight," she whispered into his ear cheekily.

"Goodnight to you to," he said back as she finally released him.

He watched as she crawled onto the bed, trying to get under the blanket, but failing due to her uncoordinated limbs. He crawled in after Alex to save her from herself. He laid beside her, pulling her close, so that her head was on his chest, using it as a pillow. He settled the blanket over them and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight as they fell asleep together.

The next morning Alex woke to a pounding head and an empty bed. She sat up slowly, massaging her temples and groaning at the dull thudding ache that had taken up residence in her brain.

She heard a snicker, and looked over to see Daryl laughing at her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked with another chuckle.

"Like shit," she groaned, slowly dragging herself out of the truck, "Did I make an ass of myself yesterday?"

"You don't remember yesterday?" Daryl said, his stomach dropping.

If she didn't remember what had happened the day before, it was going to make for an awkward explanation.

Alex gave him an embarrassed smile, "I know what I did, but I can't remember if I said anything stupid."

"Nah, you didn't say anything, you just giggled mostly," he explained with a grin.

She gave a sigh of relief, thankful that she hadn't run her mouth. She went over to Daryl, but paused for a moment when she saw him packing a bag.

"Going somewhere?" she asked uncertainly.

"Following the game. The louder this camp gets the farther they move away. Most of the deer won't come near this place anymore," he explained, "I can't track them in a day like I used to, they've moved farther away, and now I have to follow."

"So it's just going to be me and Merle here tonight," she concluded.

"Yeah, but you don't have to worry about him, he's got a thing for Andrea," Daryl told her.

She laughed, "I'll take your word for it."

Daryl swung his bag over his shoulder and got up, gesturing for her to come closer. She obliged him, stepping toe to toe with him.

"Don't I get a goodbye kiss," he teased.

Alex's felt the heat rise to her cheeks as she blushed, "I suppose I do owe you one."

He reached a hand up under her chin, tilting her lips up so he could capture them with his own. He kissed her gently at first, relishing the softness of her lips, but quickly got rougher. He pressed his body flush to hers, and moved his hands into her hair, securing her against him.

Eventually Alex broke away, whatever thought she had been thinking had left from her head, and all she was left to do was stand there, looking up at him and breathing heavily.

"Don't get into too much trouble without me," he said gruffly.

"I won't" she promised sheepishly.

He kissed her softly once more then released her, disappearing into the forest. Alex sighed as she watched him go, but didn't follow after him like she wanted to. Instead she got her own things together and headed out into the woods.

Alex was midway through one of her rounds when she heard the wailing car alarm going off in the distance. It echoed throughout the area, growing louder each minute, and scaring all the animals. At first she tried to ignore it, but it kept getting closer, making her anxious. Eventually she started to jog back to camp, concerned as to why a stolen car was approaching their camp.

By the time she got back, everyone was gathered at the base of Dale's camper, getting reports from him as he observed the area with his binoculars.

"What is it?" Lori yelled up to him.

"Stolen car is my guess," Dale mused.

As the car drove closer to camp, it got infinitely louder, until it was almost unbearable.

"Holy Crap! Turn that damn thing off!" Dale called out over the noise.

Glenn shrugged, "I don't know how."

There was a kerfuffle as they tried to figure it out, everyone trying to be heard over the sound of the car and each other.

Amy's voice broke through everyone else's, "Where's my sister? Is she okay? Why isn't she with you?"

"Glenn put his hands up in defense," She's fine, everyone's okay. Merle, not so much."

With that last caveat, he glanced quickly over at Alex and she saw a flash of concern. She tried to get a word in, to ask him what was wrong, but Shane overpowered her voice as he got into a heated discussion with Glenn and Dale about whether the car alarm would draw any walkers to the camp.

Their arguing ceased when a second truck pulled up to the camp. As soon as people started getting out, they ran to their loved ones, the fighting forgotten for the moment, and Alex couldn't help but smile.

"Hey helicopter boy, come say hello," Morales called out.

A tall man in a police uniform emerged from behind the truck, and the group stood around gawking at him, until Carl broke the silence.

"Dad! Dad!" he screamed in excitement, as he rushed over, Lori following closely behind him.

The group stood in awe, everyone's attention glued on the reunited family as they embraced. Alex weaved her way quietly through the crowd, making her way over to Glenn. The comment about Merle hadn't seemed like good news

"What happened to Merle?" she asked.

"Him and the new guy, Rick, got into a fight. Rick handcuffed him to the roof of the department store and I'm pretty sure he's still up there right now," Glenn admitted.

"Oh shit," Alex swore under her breath.

"That's not even the worst of it," Glenn continued, " T-Dog dropped the key when we were escaping."

Alex gave a long sigh, "Daryl's not gonna like this."

"You're going to talk to him, right?" he inquired hopefully.

She shrugged, "He won't be back until tomorrow at the earliest."

"Well, I think he would take it better coming from you," Glenn said.

"What do you mean? I barely know Daryl, let alone Merle. I've been here for less than a week," Alex countered.

"That's exactly what I mean. You've been around the Dixons for less time than we have, but you already know them way better than the rest of us. Daryl's probably spoken more to you, then the rest of the group combined."

She chewed her lip for a second, mulling over his point, "I'll try to talk to him, but there's no guarantees I'll get to him first."

"That's better than nothing," he said with a grim smile.

Alex nodded, "Listen, I've got to do another, I'll see you at dinner later."

She figured if she was lucky, some of her traps may have caught something before the car alarm scared everything away. However, the way her day was going, she didn't think there would be anything there.

* * *

A/N: Blegh, this took way longer to update than I thought it would! Anyways, now that winter semester is over and my course load is lessened, I anticipate updating more often.

Till next time,

\- ThreeFoldLaw :)


	8. Chapter 8

Dinner that night was awkward to say the least. Since Daryl wasn't there, it seemed she had become an honorary Dixon, and every time Merle's name came up in the discussion, she could feel people's eyes on her, trying to look at her without really looking at her.

She had tried to ignore them at first, but after a while, she started to directly meet people's stares, fixing them with one of her own. That had solved the problem for a short while, but the constant scrutiny still made her uncomfortable and she had left the fire early.

Alex pushed herself up off the ground, "I'll see you later," she mumbled to Glenn.

She brought her plate back to the washbasin where a few others had begun to pile up. Carol was already sitting there, slowly washing some cups. She didn't say anything to Alex, but she could feel Carol's eyes on her. Alex signed and dropped her plate into water, then turned on her heel and tried to get away from the stares as fast as possible.

However, although being under constant scrutiny was uncomfortable, the quiet she faced in the Dixon's camp was almost more uncomfortable. Now, as she lay in bed, she was almost overwhelmed by the silence. She was surprised to find that she missed the snoring that usually came from Merle's tent, although missed was probably a bit of an overstatement. What she was really longing for though was for Daryl's arm to be wrapped around her waist, holding her close to him, his breath hot in her ear.

That night she had a restless sleep, waking every few hours to check her surroundings. The Dixons had chosen to locate the camp away from the rest of the group, which made it easy for them to go about their business reasonably undisturbed, but it also put them as risk of being caught unaware by one of the walkers. By the time she got up in the morning, she was more tired than when she had gone to bed.

She started her day like normal, circling the perimeter of the camp and keeping an eye out for any trace of Daryl as she did. As she knelt down to retrieve a rabbit from one of her traps, she froze. In the distance she heard a child's high, panicked scream. The sound startled Alex and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Another scream pierced the air, and she realized that it was not just the sounds of kids roughhousing, but that they were scared.

Her adrenaline was pumping and she took off towards where the sound had come from. Her feet hit the ground at a quick, but steady pace as she raced to the far side of the camp. Alex weaved between the trees, quickly gaining ground until she made it to where a large number of the group had gathered. Lori was holding Carl close to her, and had another arm around Sophia.

"What happened?" she asked as she sucked in air.

"It was one of those things," Lori said, gesturing with a tilt of her head towards a thicker part of the forest.

Alex followed the direction she had been indicating, and stumbled upon on an interesting scene. Several of the men had surrounded a walker that had been feasting on a deer carcass. They took turn bludgeoning it with various tool and weapons until its head had been separated from its body.

"What the hell?" Alex muttered.

She had been in this area less than an hour ago, there had been no deer and certainly no walker when she had passed.

The group was distracted from their conversation about the walker as rustling sounds came from the bushes. They raised their weapons, expecting another one of the undead, but were surprised when Daryl emerged.

"Son of bitch!" was the first thing out of his mouth when he saw the ruined deer carcass.

He ignored the rest of the people gathered, heading straight over to it and giving it a few angry kicks, "Filthy, disease bearing, motherless, proxy bastard."

"Calm down son," Dale said, "that's not helping."

Daryl didn't take his suggestion well, "What do you know old man? You take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'."

Alex knew she shouldn't, but she smirked at the remark. Daryl hadn't been the first to comment on Dale's hat.

Daryl caught her smile, and his eyes softened ever so slightly as he noticed her for the first time. He held her gaze for a second, she could tell he was checking to make sure she was okay, and she gave him a little nod. Satisfied that she was alright, he gave a sigh and turned his attention back to the carcass, a little less angry this time.

"I've been tracking this deer for miles," he grumbled as he aggressively yanked his arrows out of the deer, "I was going to drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison."

"What do you think? We can cut around this chewed up part here," he mused.

Shane shook his head, "Would not risk that."

"It's a damn shame," Daryl said as he slowly calmed down, having let off enough steam, "I've got some squirrel, a dozen or so. That'll have to do."

Alex was pretty impressed, not only had he tracked, hunted and dragged a deer back to camp, he had also managed to catch squirrels as well. However, this fact seemed to be lost on the rest of the group.

He readjusted the brace of squirrels and headed towards Alex, "Everything okay here?"

"Uh, yeah.." she started unsure how to tell him about what had happened in Atlanta.

"Good," he grunted, continuing on his way past Alex and closer towards the camp.

Her stomach sank a bit as he emerged from the woods and headed towards through the camp, towards the main fire.

"Wait Daryl, listen.." she tried again.

"Talk to me in a bit, I got to deal with these," he said, slinging the dead animals off his shoulder.

"Merle!" he shouted, "Get your ass out here, I got us some squirrels."

Shane stepped in front of Alex, cutting her off, and she was almost relieved.

"Daryl. Slow up a bit, I need to talk to you," he called out.

This got Daryl's attention and he rounded on Shane, "About what?"

"About Merle," he explained, "There is a, uh, there's a problem at Atlanta."

Most people had migrated from the woods to Dale's camper by this point. They gathered in a circle, closing the two men in as they waited expectantly for the inevitable.

Daryl could sense something was up, "Dead?" he asked upfront as he paced.

"Not sure," Shane admitted.

This aggravated Daryl, "He either is or her ain't," he countered sharply.

Alex could sense a shift as Rick spoke up, entering the circle.

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," he announced.

Daryl turned to him, "Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes." Daryl repeated, his annoyance clearly showing, "You got something you want to tell me?"

He was fully facing Rick by this point, getting in his face.

"You're brother was a danger to us all," Rick started, "so I handcuffed him on the roof to a piece of metal, he's still there."

"Let me process this," Daryl snapped.

Alex could tell that his temper was rising, the way he kept pacing then returning to face Rick.

"You handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there" he shouted at him.

Rick took the yelling well, "Yeah."

Daryl lost it and he threw his crossbow at him before lunging at him, but before he could reach him, he was tackled by Shane.

"Hey!" Alex yelled as she moved to go help him, but she was stopped by a soft hand squeezing her shoulder.

She saw that Morales had grabbed her and he was shaking his head, "it's not your fight," he whispered under his breath.

He was probably right. Daryl had drawn his knife and was advancing on Rick. He took a couple swings, but Rick managed to dodge them. Shane grabbed him on one side and Rick secured the other, as they wrestled the knife away from him. Shane got Daryl into chokehold and he let him to the ground gently.

From there, Rick was able to convince Daryl to calm down enough so they could continue.

"What I did was not on a whim," Rick told him, "Your brother does not play well with others."

He was interrupted by T-Dog, "It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl said accusingly.

"I dropped it in the drain," T-Dog confessed.

"If that's supposed to make me feel better, it don't," Daryl shot back angrily as he got to his feet.

"Maybe this will, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him, with a padlock," he continued.

Rick chimed in," that's gotta count for something."

Everyone waited in anticipation as Daryl thought for a moment, but Alex could tell he was still stewing.

"The hell with all y'all!" he growled.

He looked directly at Alex and she realized that he was angry with her too.

"Tell me where he is so I can go and get him," he demanded finally.

From the camper, Lori spoke up, "He'll show you. Isn't that right."

It was clearly a statement, not a question, and Rick seemed to be in agreement.

"I'm going back," he told Daryl.

This placated Daryl a bit, "fine," he grumbled.

He picked up the squirrels from where he had dropped them on the ground, and stomped past Alex, glaring at her as he went. The group stood in stunned silence for a moment, not sure of what to do.

Shane appeared to be the only one that wasn't shocked, "Okay everybody, the show's over."

This brought the group to their senses and they slowly dispersed. Alex caught a few worried glances shot in her directed, but she choose not to acknowledge them. Instead, she turned and went back into the forest. She would take the long way around to give him some time to cool down.

This had been a good plan in theory, but Daryl was still fuming when she got to him. He was gutting the squirrels aggressively with short, swift strokes.

He glared at her, "What do you want?"

"You know Merle might still be alive."

"What's your point? Those assholes chained him to a roof and left him for the freaks. It doesn't matter that they think they're gonna go back and get him. I got the message," he said, his words were punctuated with each cut of the knife.

Alex narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean?"

"I ain't staying here after the shit they've pulled. After I get Merle off that roof, we're gone," he told her as he finished with the squirrels.

He glanced up at her when she didn't respond right away, "You gonna come or not?"

That surprised her, "Uh, I don't know."

"Well then you better make up your damn mind and do it quick," he said, brushing past her roughly as he headed back towards the main area of the camp.

She trailed after him, he was pissed, and rightly so, but she couldn't understand why he was taking his anger out on her. They approached Rick and Shane who seemed to be having an argument of their own.

"Why would you risk your life for a douchebag like Merle Dixon," Shane asked accusingly, clearly not a fan of Rick's decision to go back to Atlanta.

"Hey! Choose your words more carefully," Daryl muttered, a hard edge in his voice.

"Oh no, I did. Douchebag's what I meant," he said, brushing him off. He turned back to Rick, speaking to him with a warning tone.

"Merle Dixon," he said with a frustrated sigh, "that man wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst."

Rick disagreed, "what he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I, cannot let a man die of thirst, or exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap, that's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being."

Lori piped up a this, "So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" she asked skeptically.

Rick turned his gaze on Glenn in response and fixed him with his own inquisitive look.

"Ugh, come on!" Glenn said, clearly not happy with the turn of events, Alex couldn't imagine he would want to go to Atlanta for the third time in three days.

"Hey, you've been there before," Rick pointed out, also turning his gaze on Alex at the assertion, "In and out, no problem, you said so yourself. I'd feel a lot better with both of you along. I know she would to," he said with a nod in Lori's direction.

Shane certainly didn't like where the conversation was going, "Great, you're gonna risk four men instead of two."

"Five," T-Dog piped up.

Daryl snorted, "My day just gets better and better, don't it" he said sarcastically.

T-Dog scowled, " You see anyone else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?"

"Why you?" Daryl questioned.

"You wouldn't even begin to understand," T-Dog told him, "you don't speak my language."

"You're putting every single one of us at risk," Shane persisted, "Just know that Rick. Come on, you saw the walker. It was here, it was in camp. They move out of the city, they come back, we need every able bodied we got. We need them here to protect the camp."

"It seems like what you really need here are more guns," Rick countered.

That got Shane's attention, "Wait, what guns?"

"Six shotguns, Two high powered high powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when i got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to get picked up," he told him.

"Ammo?" Shane inquired.

"Seven hundred rounds," Rick confirmed, which made Shane reconsidered.

However, Lori didn't like where the conversation was going, "You went through hell to find us. You just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave? To hell with the guns, Shane is right. Merle Dixon is not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in."

"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy," Rick explained, "If they hadn't taken me in I would have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta, they'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn them. There's a walkie-talkie in the bag I dropped, they've got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer."

"Was it our walkies?" Shane interrupted.

"Yeah," Rick admitted.

Andrea chimed in, "So use the CB, what's wrong with that?"

"The CB's fine. It's the walkies that suck, they're crap. They date back to the seventies, don't match any other bandwidth, not even the scanners in our cars," Shane explained.

"I need that bag," Rick said with finality, which sealed the deal for the group.

He made his way over to the camper with T-Dog, leaving Glenn, Alex and Daryl to stand uselessly over by the van.

"How did I get roped into this?" Alex hissed to Glenn.

"Bad luck," he concluded with a grim smile, " it seems to be running rampant nowadays."

Daryl didn't seem to like waiting and he leaned on the horn a few times, "Come on, let go!" he yelled at Rick and T-Dog.

They spared a glance his way, and finished their conversation with Dale before making their way over to the van. Rick exchanged a few more words with Shane, then shut the rest of them into the cargo hold, and got into the driver's seat.

He started the truck up and Alex could feel the rumble of the engine through the floor of the cargo hold. They drove in silence as Rick manouvered the van through the twisty turns of the dirt road. They were bumped and jostled into one another until they finally reached the interstate that led into Atlanta.

Rick took his eyes of the road for a moment and glanced towards the rest of the crew, "What's the plan?" he asked.

They were all on edge by the time they reached the railyard, but none of then hesitated as they climbed out of the van. Glenn had told Rick to stop there because the yards were relatively empty of walkers, but it was still close enough to the building where Merle was.

Alex toyed with the hilt of her knife nervously, she wasn't especially fond of walking into a death trap. Nonetheless, she followed behind Glenn as they ran towards the building. Daryl shadowed her closely as they reached the perimeter fence.

They slipped through a hole that had been made in the fencing and Rick gave a long sigh, "Merle first or guns?"

"Merle! We ain't even having this conversation," Daryl said indignantly.

"We are having this conversation," Rick insisted, turning to Glenn, "you know the geography so it's your call."

"Merle's closest," he admitted, "the guns would mean doubling back, so Merle first."

Alex was glad he had chosen Merle, she could imagine the argument that would have broken out if he hadn't. Not to mention all the noise that would have drawn the undead towards them in hoards.

They ran quickly, Glenn leading them in the shortest roof to the building where Merle was chained up. They snuck around the back alley and into the main floor of the department store. It didn't take them long to find the stairwell and start climbing to the roof. As soon as they cut the chain that held the door to the roof closed, Daryl kicked it open and began to call for Merle.

The rest of the crew swarmed the roof with him, but were stopped in their tracks.

"Oh god", she heard Glenn swear.

She craned her neck to see what everyone was looking at, and when she did, she wished she hadn't. Lying on the cement next to a pair of handcuffs and a saw, was a human hand.

* * *

A/N: Well, this chapter had a tonne of dialogue in it. Now that the story is following the show, there will probably be a lot more compared to previous chapters.

On another note, what's up with the radio silence? I can see this story is getting a lot of views, but you guys are very, very quiet. I can't tell if you like it or hate it.

You'll notice this chapter was relatively void of smut, however that was mostly for the sake of plot development. You should drop me a line and review if you want more lemons (or review if you want less)!

Till next time

ThreeFoldLaw :)


	9. Chapter 9

Warning: Strong language ahead!

* * *

Alex stared in horror at the lifeless hand that once belonged to Merle.

"What the fuck?" she said, not fully comprehending what was before her.

Glenn leaned in towards her, "I think we may have underestimated Merle."

"No kidding," she murmured, "You realize this means we have a handless Merle wandering around Atlanta."

Glenn was about to respond, but he was distracted by a sudden flurry of movement as Daryl turned his crossbow on T-Dog, clearly angry. Rick responded by pulling out his own weapon and training it on Daryl's head.

"I won't hesitate, I don't care if every walker in the city hears it," Rick told Daryl, his figger steady on the trigger of his gun.

Daryl continued to point his cross bow at T-Dog, still fuming, but he lowered it grudgingly. Rick mirrored his action, and the three men stood awkwardly as they were still on guard.

Finally Daryl spoke up, "You got a do-rag or something?" he asked T-Dog.

T-Dog obliged, pulling one from his pocket and handing it to the other man. Daryl went over to the hand and picked it up gently, wrapping it in the cloth.

"I guess, uh, the sawblade was too dull for the handcuffs," he commented grimly, "He must've used a tourniquet, maybe his belt. There'd been lots more blood if he didn't."

Daryl surveyed the scene for a few more moments before heading back to the stairwell.

"If he's not here than he managed to get out of the building," he told them, disappearing out the door.

Rick was the first to follow, and the other joined him, weapons still drawn just in case. When they got to the lower levels, Daryl started to call out for his brother, but he got no response. They made their way back to the main floor and they found some dead walkers amongst the employees offices.

"He had enough in him to take out these two sons of a bitches, one handed," Daryl noted, "Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Give him a hammer and he'll crap out nails."

"Any man could pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is," Rick pointed out.

"Of course he lost blood, he left a mighty fine trail to follow," Daryl said as he pointed to several red splotches on the floor, "It looks like they're leading to the kitchen."

He continued on his path, and Alex knew he was in his element. They followed him down the hallway that lead into the kitchen.

"Merle!" he yelled out, stepping over the threshold

Rick caught up to him before the rest of them entered, "We're not alone here, remember," he warned.

"Screw that, he could be bleeding out, you said so yourself," Daryl shot back, ignoring him and pushing onward.

Rick and the rest of the group hesitated, but Alex followed, her knife still raised in front of her. She and Daryl weaved between the prep tables, searching for any sign of Merle. As they made their way over to the stoves, she could hear a faint hissing noise. The sound was coming from a few portable bunsen burners.

"Over there, she pointed, and Daryl made a beeline for them.

By this time, Rick, Glenn, and T-Dog had followed them inside, and Rick was the first to investigate the setup. He picked up a flat tool that had been sitting beside the burners. A sickly sweet smell emanated from the area, and Alex recognized it as burnt human flesh. Her stomach heaved at the scent and she felt the bile rise in her throat.

"What's that burnt stuff?" Glenn asked

"Skin," Rick admitted gravely, "He cauterized the stump."

"I told you he was tough," Daryl added, "Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."

Alex was surprised how calm he was, she thought he would have been angrier.

Rick seemed to disagree, "Don't take that on faith, he's lost a lot of blood."

"Yeah?" Daryl challenged, "It didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap."

He made his way over to a broken window in the corner of the room.

"He left the building?" Glenn said incredulously, "Why the hell would he do that?"

"Why wouldn't he, he's out there alone as far as he knows. Doing what he's got to do, surviving."

"You call that surviving?" T-Dog questioned, "Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out. What are his odds out there?"

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks," Daryl shot back, as he turned to Rick, "You couldn't kill him, I ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard."

"What about a thousand dumb dead bastards, different story?" Rick said.

"You take a tally?" Daryl asked sarcastically, he tried to pass Rick to go out the window, "Do what you want, I'm gonna get him."

Rick put a hand on his chest to stop him, "Daryl, wait!"

"Get your hands off me!" he exploded, "You can't stop me!"

"I don't blame you, he's family, I get that," Rick told him, "I went through hell to find mine, I know exactly how you feel. He can't get far with that injury, we could help you check a few blocks around, but only if we keep a level head."

Daryl was still angry, he was shifting from foot to foot. He swallowed hard, finally agreeing to the proposition, "I could do that."

T-Dog interrupted them, "Only if we get those guns first. I'm not strolling the street of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?"

Rick nodded, "He's right, we should get the guns first."

"Merle got out of here without guns, we don't need them," Daryl argued.

"We're not Merle," T-Dog pointed out.

"The hell you ain't," he spat.

Rick stepped in, "Which is why we need the guns, the sooner we figure that out, the sooner we can find Merle."

"Fine," Daryl consented grudgingly.

"Can we figure this out somewhere else," Alex complained, "The smell in here is awful."

Glenn gave her a confused look, "What smell?"

She raised an eyebrow, "You don't smell that?"

"No?" Glenn said uncertainly.

"Say, we passed an office room off of the hallway on our way here, we should head over there," Rick suggested.

Alex nodded, "Anywhere is better than here."

They moved from the kitchen down the hallway, and out of the corner of her eye, Alex could see Daryl following behind her.

"Sharp senses you got there," he murmured in her ear as he brushed past her into the office.

They all filed into the room, settling in between a few desks.

"So what's the plan?" T-Dog asked.

"We go out and get the guns, one person retrieves it and the rest of us cover them," Rick said as if it were the obvious answer

"No, we can't do that," Glenn disagreed as he rifled through one of the desks, grabbing a marker.

He sat down on the floor, drawing various shapes and lines straight onto the cement. It took Alex a moment to realize that he was recreating the city streets.

"Look, the tank is here, practically in the middle of an intersection. The freaks could swarm from anywhere. If we all go out and we get overrun from all four directions, we're all dead and everyone back at camp still has no guns. One person goes, that way if they fail, there's still four more people," he explained.

Rick picked up on what he was implying and cut him off right away, "You're not doing this alone."

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't like you much," Daryl added.

"I think he's on the right track," Alex countered, which earned her a glare from both Rick and Daryl.

"Hear me out," Glenn told them, "If we go out there in a group we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone I can move fast. Look, there's the tank, five blocks from where we are now. That's the bag of guns, and here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met. That's where Daryl, Alex and I will go."

"Why us?" Daryl interrupted.

"Your weapons are quieter than his gun," Glenn said, continuing to put his plan into words, "While they wait here in the alley, I run out on the street and grab the bag."

"But you got us elsewhere?" Rick asked.

"You and T-Dog, right, you're gonna be in this alley here," he said, pointing to a different area of his map.

Rick didn't seem to like that, "That's two blocks away, why?"

Glenn sighed "I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off, if that happens, I won't go back to Daryl, I'll go forward instead, all the way around the alley to where you guys are. Whichever direction I go I got you in both places to cover me. Afterwards we'll all meet up back here."

"What happens when you get bit cause you're too worried about getting the bad of guns to watch your surroundings?" Alex asked.

"Uh, I hadn't thought of that," Glenn mused, starting to rearrange his map, "Here, Daryl maintains the original position, and you can cover me. That way we have long range cover from the alley and I have short range while I get the guns."

"Hey kid, what'd you do before all this?" Daryl questioned.

"Delivered pizzas, why?" he said.

Rick and Daryl exchanged a look, but neither said anything, getting up and moving to the door instead.

"Okay. let's get a move on," Rick announced, rousing the rest of them from where they sat.

They moved towards the stairwell, but Glenn stopped them, "Daryl, Alex and I will take the fire escape, it leads directly to the alley. You guys take the back exit, it's closer to the other alley where you need to be."

Rck paused for a moment, "Alright, we'll see you there, be careful."

Glenn nodded, "This way guys," he said to Daryl and Alex as he lead them away to the fire escape.

Alex poked her head out the window and instantly regretted it, "That's a long way down," she whispered, her limbs tingling as adrenaline pumped through her body.

"You'll be fine," Daryl told her as he shoved open the window.

"Alex you go first, so you can cover us once you get to the ground," Glenn told her.

She grit her teeth, "Okay."

She climbed out of the window slowly, stepping onto the ladder nervously. She took a long breath to steady her nerves, then began her descent, Glenn and Daryl, following her. It didn't take them long to reach the bottom, and Alex was thankful for that.

Once Glenn got to the ground, he motioned for Alex to head towards where the alley met the main street. They moved quickly, Daryl trailing behind them as they wove in between dumpsters. As they got closer, they paused momentarily so Alex could draw her knife and Daryl could load his cross bow.

"You got some nerve Chinamen," he commented.

"I'm Korean," Glenn shot back.

Daryl rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

Glenn motioned for her to join him at the gate, where they stopped to survey the scene. He seemed to be happy with their window of opportunity.

"Left," he whispered as he bolted out onto the street.

They ducked low as they ran, using the cars parked on the street as cover. They made it a fair distance down the street before Alex stopped Glenn abruptly by pulling on his shirt. He stumbled backwards, just out of the reaching grasp of a walker that had been making its way over to them. Alex lunger ahead of Glenn and kicked the walker in the leg, sending it to the ground, although it was still attempting to grab them. Now that it was at waist height, it was easy for her to plunge her knife into it's brain.

Glenn gave her a push and they took off again, heading closer to the tank. He hopped a low fence and she followed as they stopped and hid behind a pile of sand bags.

"There's the bag!" he whispered excitedly, "Let's go!"

He ran towards it, Alex keeping pace, her knife at the ready. He bent down to pick it up, but his grip wasn't strong enough the first time and he dropped it with a loud thud. The walkers that hadn't already been following their movement, were alerted by the sound and turned their attention to the two runners.

She glanced at the path ahead, that led to Rick and T-Dog, which was a minefield of walkers.

"Go back!" she told Glenn when he finally got a hold of the bag.

He did as she said, but as she tried to do the same, a cold hand tightened its vice like grip around her knife arm. A walker had snuck up on her, hiding in her blind spot, and was currently pulling her arm towards its mouth.

"Fuck!" she swore.

Out of instinct she tightened her free hand into a fist and swung it, solidly connecting with the walker's jaw. The force was enough to reroute the walker's mouth, and its teeth clamped shut on nothing but air. In that spare second before it turned its head back on course, she was able to wrench her arm free from its grasp and bury her knife in its temple.

The walker crumpled to the street and she whirled around to follow Glenn, but found that she was facing a wall of the freaks. She turned back to the direction of Rick and T-Dog, which was still filled with walkers, but not as many as the ones behind her.

She decided to use the tank as a barrier, launching herself at it and hauling her body out of the reach of the incoming walkers. She clambered over and hopped down the other side, bolting past a few of the quicker freaks.

They tried to follow her, but she was too fast, even for the quick ones. Her feet slammed into the pavement as she ran, the vibrations travelling up through her legs and making her teeth chatter. As she widened the distance between them, nearing the alley, she slowed slightly so she wouldn't run headfirst into her two crewmates.

Alex rounded the corner, expecting to see Rick and T-Dog, but instead, there was nothing. She stopped in her tracks.

"Rick, it's me!" she hissed, hoping they were just being discreet and hiding, but when there was no response, it dawned on her that they had already left.

They must have taken the extended absence as a sign that both she and Glenn made it back to Daryl. Alex knew she would have to continue down the back alleyways, they were fairly short, which meant that if she could make it around the corners fast enough, the walkers wouldn't be able to track her. Plus, since Rick and T-Dog had already taken the route twice, it was most likely to be free of the freaks. Nonetheless, she still kept her knife available, just in case, as she retraced their steps.

In the distance she could hear some shouting, but it certainly didn't sound like they were celebrating. When she got around the final corner, she was surprised to see T-Dog, Rick and Daryl running full tilt in her direction. She was relieved to see they had the bag of guns, but couldn't understand why they had a strange boy with them instead of Glenn.

"Up the ladder!" Rick shouted and she watched as T-Dog went up first, the boy sandwiched between him and Rick.

Daryl saw her and hung back or a moment, waiting for her to catch up. She went to start climbing, but he grabbed her arm, turning her to face him.

"You okay?" he asked, clearly concerned.

She nodded, still trying to catch her breath.

"Good," he said as he leaned in, his hands on either side of her face as he kissed her hard, "now get up there."

She followed his order, scaling the ladder quickly, no thought to the excessive height this time around. She shoved her body through the window and collapsed on the ground beside Rick, T-Dog and the boy. Daryl came in right after her, and he would have crushed her if she hadn't slid out of the way.

"Whose this?" she asked, "Where's Glenn?"

"This little asshole came out of nowhere, and jumped me! He called his buddies over and they tried to steal the bag, and when they couldn't, they took Glenn and drove off," Daryl said, absolutely seething.

Rick rounded on the kid, "Those men you were with, we need to know where they went."

"I ain't telling you nothing about them," he responded, his demeanor surprisingly calm as he pointed at Daryl, "You're the one who jumped me, this douchbag was screaming about his brother like it was my fault."

"They took Glenn, they could have taken Merle too," Daryl said, he was wound up and pacing around the room in his agitation.

"Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle" the kid commented, not helping the situation.

That really pissed Daryl off and he tried to kick the kid in the head, but luckily Rick intercepted him.

"Dammit Daryl! Back off!" he told him as he pushed him away from the kid.

Daryl decided to switch tactics, going over to his back and rummaging through it until he found the hand that has belonged to Merle, "What to see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?"

He tossed the severed hand into the kid's lap, causing him to freak out, practically leaping from the chair in horror.

Rick intervened again, "The men you were with took our friend, all we want to do is talk to them, see if we can work something out."

That seemed to work a little better, the kid mulled over the proposition, "Alright, I'll take you to them."

* * *

A/N: This chapter had a lot of dialogue and a lot of action, so I decided to break it into two separate chapters.

Also, I've been transcribing directly from the episodes and I've come to the realization that people talk very quickly. I guess I'll have to practice my typing skills!

Till next time,

ThreeFoldLaw :)


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